Proof of Fang: Yuki Kazikura vs Shimmerlace Snuggleblossom

[Malkavia]

Yuki's arms sagged when they caught Shimmerlace, the way a hammock might have done. It felt nice, in a sick way, like jumping into bed. Then the bottom fell out. Yuki slammed her head-first into the mat. She bounced, then landed on her side and crumpled.

The mat was a soft, sticky turntable, spinning much too fast. She'd have to put a stop to that. She'd look ridiculous, rotating like a top. She tried standing, and she did manage to get her palms flat on the vinyl, and she did after a beat push to her knees, slide one boot onto the mat.

Why isn't she attacking me?

Even when Shimmerlace did stand, however, the turntable kept on spinning. It made it hard to keep her footing, and she stumbled to the side. She could make out Yuki. Her orange feathers were a clear smear in Shimmer's vision, but getting the Skybeast to coalesce in her vision was a challenge. The bird and the girl and a blur were competing for the same bit of canvas, and her head wouldn't quite keep steady.

Move. Attack.

How though? Fundamentals flopped. The Seelie touch fizzled. Her mind slithered and looped over attacks she'd practiced in her room or trained with Eleanor or attempted off the cuff with this or that rival. What slithered up from he memory was more Angelina — Moonsaults, sky kicks, flips from the top rope, and other impossibilities. But she also remembered her eyes. Her lovely, violet eyes.

At this point, it was a moment from her dreams as much as the match. Her thumbs entered Angelina's eye sockets and curled inwards. The pads of her thumbs had been slathered in capsaicinoid chemicals, the kind of fluid that gives pepper spray and jalapeno peppers their bite. Her ocular tissue had been smooth, almost glassy, and when Shimmer's thumbnails had slid between her eyelids and over her irises, she'd screamed.

Of course, she couldn't go for Yuki's eyes.

Move.

Just fuckin' move.

So she did — more lumbering towards Yuki than charging. She had eye-gouging in her mind, but a fist in her hand, a snarl on a face that only seemed to half-see Yuki. Once in range, she growled, spun, and tried to spin the back of her fist across her opponent's face.

[CaptainL]

Yuki had only seconds to move. Shimmerlace was already in motion - and her mobility had been aptly demonstrated through the course of this match. Surely the damage she'd taken at Angelina's hands could only slow her down with the pain, but Yuki was no fool. She knew that Shimmer still presented a very real and very present danger, and one that she needed to take seriously if she wanted to stand a chance. It was only moments before the pink-haired girl struck that she was able to get up her guard, transitioning from there into a suplex that pulled the Feychild overhead and hurled her down head-first into the mat, which rippled and shook under her impact. If it wasn't for the pain slowing Shimmerlace down, Yuki thought, she might not have been so lucky. Shimmer was hurt, but she was headstrong. She was determined to win - if only to prove she had a win in her. And like a wild animal was willing to gnaw off its own leg to get out of a trap, Shimmer would surely be willing to keep on fighting no matter what it cost her. If she saw even a hint that she might have a chance of overcoming Yuki, she'd take it, no questions asked!

All of those thoughts were going through Yuki's head as she broke the suplex and rolled aside, going head over heels to land on her knees. She panted for breath, trying to shake the cobwebs out of her head and stay sharp, but she wasn't about to take her eyes off Shimmer for a moment - and a second later, she looked back over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed in a steely glare to study the pink-haired girl's every motion. Sure enough, her suspicions were correct. Already, Shimmerlace was gearing up for her next move. No matter how much Yuki herself felt dizzied from the whirlwind of action and emotion this match had been, she couldn't let it get to her, and she couldn't let it slow her down. She had to always stay one step ahead!

Just as Shimmer was coming closer, Yuki tensed the muscles in her legs, pushing her feet against the mat. With that burst of momentum she shoved herself to her feet, and she whipped herself around in an arc to face Shimmerlace once again. The Feychild's arm was already spinning right toward Yuki's head - but in a split-second reflex, the brunette raised her arm, looking to deflect the blow with her forearm when it was mere milimeters away from its target. Such a block would've hurt - it would've made her wince from the sensation of the impact - but that couldn't stop her. While Shimmerlace still had her arm extended, she would be vulnerable. That was the thought going through Yuki's head - as she grabbed the girl by the outstretched arm, using it to tether herself in place while she lifted one leg to use the other as an axis, pivoting around on her ankle and swinging out her other leg to throw a roundhouse kick against Shimmerlace's side from point-blank range!

[Malkavia]

And then there was the original match, the one that set Shimmer's eyes sparkling weeks she'd ever even seen the Marauder in the flesh. Yuki vs Angelina. Even before Angelina had stolen her stage, Shimmerlace had engraved that one into grey-matter. Angelina's fiery entrance on a skateboard with the wicked two-finger salute to a stolen theme, the fight that left two titans ragged and at the last nub of their strength, the final dramatic fracture at the absolute edge of Skybeast's abilities—the whole match rested every bit as deep in her dreams, and in the thorny black below her dreams, as any sprinkle of pixie dust.

Shimmerlace spun towards Yuki, aiming to slam her fist across her jaw, but instead she hit her arm. Blocked. For all her cussing, the strength of the strike was below Shimmer's peak; her mind was off on gouged violet eyes, and while Yuki braced for an impact, not much got through the block. Kazikura grabbed the Feychild, spun around, and crushed her ribs with a roundhouse kick—the twin, perhaps, to the one that had put Shimmer face-down twenty seconds prior. The Feychild's feet lifted off the ground, and she bent against the impact while hanging from Yuki's grip. Muscle in her back, core, and hips clenched, went loose, and spasmed. If she had been standing, she would have fallen—third down of the post-Angie round. However, Yuki was holding her up, so she hung, chin trembling, until the Kazikura prodigy let her collapse to her knees.

What had been the target here, precisely? On paper, in the old Seelie War Plans, it had been to score a single of three falls: Earn one fall, bring the ticker up to match Angelina's record on the matter of Skybeasts. But as with all paper plans, the shallow target concealed a deeper want, a desire to burn the way Angelina had burned, to push Yuki to her frayed limits and capture the same place in someone's mind that the Marauder had seared into Shimmer's. And you had to ask—even if she did, right now, reach up and dig her fingers deep into Yuki's eyesockets, even if she did by some miracle cheat or magic or grit her way into an unexpected 1-2-3 on Kazikura's back...was that really going to make it onto anyone's top ten list? Was it anywhere approaching the city limits, really, of what Angelina could do?

She knelt on the mat, swaying from stabilizer muscles too frayed to keep her upright. Her blood felt thick, like motor-oil months overdue for a change. Her voice, like her eyes, was far-away and jagged. "I'll fuckin' end her."

[CaptainL]

Shimmerlace was angry, yes. Her sheer desperation to match Yuki's efforts - no, really, to match Angelina's efforts; Yuki was merely caught up in the commotion - was the fire that fueled her; the burning desire to keep on fighting no matter the adversity the dark-haired girl threw in her way. But for as much as Shimmerlace was driven by that fury, it was slowing her down just as much as it pushed her forward. Her thoughts and intentions had blurred in the pursuit of vengeance, in righting a wrong, and when all her attention was directed at doing something to stand up to Yuki, it had been diverted away from the defensive. But that was an important part of this match, too. Shimmer wasn't watching her back. She was making mistakes and leaving openings that a more lucid wrestler would have spotted a mile away. And indeed, Yuki saw them. She saw them, and she was ready to take advantage of them.

With the sound of a crack, Yuki's leg plowed into Shimmerlace's side, taking her to the mat. She took a moment to catch her breath, rolling her shoulders and stretching in preparation for their next clash. But her eyes settled on Shimmerlace, and her expression grew flat and focused. It was ironic - this was the exact opposite of how her match with Angelina had gone. There, Yuki had been the one to lose her cool, and her desperation to win and to turn her fortunes around had caused her to make mistakes that the Marauder could take advantage of. But here, it was Shimmerlace who had let down her guard, and Yuki who was ready to seize on that. Her laser-sharp focus and attention to detail had always worked well for her before, when she wasn't too whipped up into a frothing fury to apply them. But now, she was ready. Now, she swore, she was going to do justice to the strengths she knew she had in her.

Her feet drifted a little further apart, and she bent lower at the knees, dropping closer to the mat. But the whole way through, Yuki's eyes never left Shimmerlace, and the determined glare never dropped from her face. She extended a hand, beckoning her forward. "Go ahead, then," she challenged, her voice cutting like an ice-cold knife. "Do it." She needed Shimmer to make good on her promises. And when she did, she would be ready.

[Malkavia]

Shimmerlace swayed on her knees, as if drunk. Her legs felt unreliable, like thin ice over a deep black pond, though it turned out to be her core that complained loudest when she planted a boot on the mat canvas forced herself to stand. She had to shove a tangle of her hair out of her face to look her opponent in the eye.

"Do it."

Shimmerlace blinked, once, twice. She swallowed, and her brain strained to grasp the present.

...There was a hint of Angelina here too. Shimmerlace couldn't help but see the mirror image in her mind's theatre ― Angelina with Thistle over her shoulder, taunting her. Setting bait so she'd charge, hit the Marauder's hurricanrana, and get tossed into the cage. Dummmmmmb. Fuck.

But what's a comet to do when the rabbit's in front of the television, and Angelina is hiding on the balcony, and...Well, it wasn't Angelina was it? This was Yuki, waiting for the fairy dust she'd been promised. Demanding it. Shimmerlace charged.

Something Charlotte would never fully admit, to herself or anyone else, was that when she galloped across the ring for the fourth time, it felt different—lighter and more like flight. She was building to what she hoped would be a sky-scraping hurricanrana, which was an impossible, ridiculous move, given the state of her body. But that wasn't what made the run feel different, to the point the audience could sense the shift and, for a few seconds anyway, hushed.

Shimmer's brain was frayed, unfocused, drunk, battered, and swimming in its own Angelina-directed bile, but for the five or so seconds between do it and impact, it all settled on Yuki. At the end of the show, however much the cunts and cuntesses might rock the gibbet, a magician performs for her audience, and Yuki had just told her to fly.

[CaptainL]

Even if Angelina had rattled her, even if she'd shaken her, even if she'd brought all too many unwelcome thoughts to the forefront of her mind...Yuki couldn't forget about why, first and foremost, she was here. Shimmerlace had sought her out to test her abilities. To prepare herself for the challenges that lay ahead. That was why the Young Lioness had pursued someone who had gone toe to toe with Angelina before, and who so closely matched her at every step of their bout. The thought that she was actually setting the standard for others to measure themselves against was one that made Yuki's heart quicken - it was almost intoxicating; it should have been proof that she was doing this right, and that she was achieving that greatness she had worked so hard to prove. But she had to take such an honor seriously. She needed to test if Shimmerlace was capable. She had to be the opponent she needed her to be...

And when Yuki set that bait right in front of her face, and she took it hook, line, and sinker, the Japanese girl didn't know if she should be pleased or disappointed. Yuki had used Shimmer's pride against her - luring her straight into her trap. If she had so easily been led astray by a ploy from Yuki, whose strategy in the ring was far more conservative and traditional than her desired rival's, there was no way she'd be ready for anyone as unpredictable as Angelina was. A short sigh left Yuki's lungs, causing her shoulders to sink ever so slightly. Shimmerlace had impressed her so far, but this was proof she still had a lot to learn. But if that was the mistake Shimmerlace was going to make, it was the lesson she would need to grow on.

She closed in on Yuki, her strides wavering and slowed by her own fatigue, but even if she was lucid, Yuki already had her next move prepared and ready to spring - the lag would only give her even more opportunity to set things up. She held her hands out level with Shimmerlace's shoulders, and as the Feychild came into range, Yuki would push down on them, guiding her so that her back would bend lower, and her head would be level with Yuki's legs. In fact, that was where Yuki's legs would clamp firmly around Shimmer's head to hold her in place. Then she leaned over forward, grabbing her opponent by the legs and hoisting her straight up and down in the air. If all went well, Yuki would suck in a breath to fuel her strength, her muscles going firm and her stance rigid with her heels dug into the mat - right before she jumped off the mat and flipped herself back through the air, prepared to slam Shimmerlace's head into the canvas with her Kazikura Destroyer!

Spoiler

[Malkavia]

Charlotte had crossed from her ring corner to the midpoint of the mat, and she was sailing such that the wind grabbed the Feychild's pink hair and stretched it behind her like a long flag. That's when something slimy with long claws began to scrape at the back of her mind.

As far as her skillset went, Charlotte had one ability that was truly worldclass, which she had refined for over a decade until it reached unrivaled sensitivity—even when...perhaps especially when she was delirious from exhaustion. It was a kind of radar, one that blipped when Yuki sighed, one that pinged the sag in Yuki's shoulders. Disappointment. Your girl could smell it like a bloodhound.

She was too slow, then—bitching out under fatigue, showing the rough edges, the slack in her training. Her eyes flashed, and she accelerated, fists clenched as her head and shoulders lowered until her back was straight. A missile with eyes locked on Yuki's...but the sigh in her face just got heavier. Why? For a microsecond, the frustration burned under Charlotte's ribs. Couldn't she have just the one fucking person?

The Feychild had one chance left—jump, hook the legs, hurricanrana. Instead, she collided with Yuki's grip, got bent over, and had her head stuffed between Yuki's legs.

“Ach—”

Charlotte whimpered. The sudden change in her head's elevation made dots swim in her vision. Blood rushed to her head, and then Yuki's thighs tightened around her jaw.

A fairy-dusted part of the girl watched what happened next from the outside and, crazily and with unfocused eyes, grinned. Forget whirligig—your girl went soaring, heel over snout, three hundred and sixty fucking degrees of pure air glowing like the aurora borealis itself—and you know every cunt and cuntess, every rabbit and rabbit-keeper, up to the Archfey Feydwer himself looked up at this bit of sky and gasped. What a crash for our comet.

Charlotte, however, just felt Yuki sighing, from end to end, until her head conked the ground, her body fell face down, and she felt nothing.

[CaptainL]

To her credit, Shimmerlace had something worth admiring in her. No one could deny the dedication and determination she had put forward in this match - she was, without a doubt, fully committed to her goals, and she was willing to take whatever measures were necessary to make them a reality. She had even put Yuki on the ropes a few times in this match. But that determination - or was it desperation? - could work against her just as much as it could work in her favor, and now Yuki had demonstrated as much. She didn't know when to stop - when to recognize she was going too far. She'd let herself be blinded by the seductive appeal that came from the notion of taking down Yuki Kazikura once and for all - so much so that she didn't even realize she was running right into a trap. But she wouldn't even get the chance to launch the hurricanrana. As soon as she was in range, Yuki pushed down on her shoulders, forcing her to bend low. Then she grabbed her head in her thighs - then, sucking in a breath to draw on all the energy she had stored up inside her, she flipped backward through the air! The ground beneath her gave way, and she felt herself hurtling in an arc. She could hear the cheers of the fans reach a crescendo as she turned herself over, pointing Shimmer's head straight down - and then, at last, the two of them dropped. Gravity did the rest of the work, and Shimmerlace's head came crashing into the mat below.

Yuki had landed with her arms still wrapped around Shimmerlace's legs, sitting upright on the mat with the Feychild in her clutches. For a moment, she needed to take a pause to draw the air back into her lungs - she panted for breath, her weary muscles shuddering as her shoulders rose and fell with every heave. But when she shook the cobwebs out of her head, she could see Shimmerlace lying there on the ground before her, splayed limply across the mat, with her legs tangled in Yuki's clutches. There, the dark-haired girl nodded her head. She knew what she had to do. The opportunity was all but staring her in the face - it was about time she reached out and took it.

"I'm sorry," Yuki whispered, her voice low and cold so that only Shimmerlace could hear it. "But if you want to face her - you have a long way to go." Shimmerlace's commitment was impressive. But Yuki had seen enough to know that Angelina would have torn Shimmer to shreds if she had made the same mistake in a match against her. And if Shimmerlace was here to prove herself, she still had a way to go.

Yuki's grip on Shimmerlace's legs would only tighten as she leaned forward, guiding the girl's shoulders against the mat. Just as quickly, the referee dove in to make the count - and with every second came a thunderous clap against the canvas. "One!! Two!!"

[Malkavia]

The top half of Charlotte's brain had trouble finding the bottom half, and her mouth wasn't sure where to find her tongue. She was a ball of nausea, and her heart had a skull-splitter of a headache. Still, that didn't stop some kernel somewhere down in the mess from listening.

Three!!

And there was the bell—ding ding ding! She felt a microsecond of relief—it was finally over—followed by instant guilt. It fuckin' shouldn't be.

It took time for what Yuki said to sink it. Much like the ring lights overhead, they spun, looping numb and far away before arcing back and hitting again. Breathing hurt, not just because Yuki had her exhausted ribs crushed under a matchbook pin. If anything, it got harder once Kazikura released her. She would have to get up now, slide out of the ring, exit backstage. Change and shower. There would be her essentials in her locker, which did not include car keys (Angelina still has those, in case you needed reminding), so instead there would be a long walk to the subway terminal...and on and on and on. Fuck. Just tracing the thought made her chest sag.

Shimmer's brain stitched back together, and she began to know where her fingers were. For the third or fourth time, Yuki's words spun back around. They were growing in intensity, and this time they filled the Feychild's chest with heat and tightness that extended up to her throat and then her eyes.

It had been a year of this absolute dogshit.

Shimmerlace pressed her palms into her eyeballs hard enough that she saw swimming blue and green stars and prisms. The back of her eyesockets ached. She'd had Yuki...or had come close to having her. Several times. (Yeah, and screwed the fuckin' pooch on each and every one). If she could just go back...(Fuck off with that shit).

—Anyway. None of that mattered for piss. It was, as Eleanor might have put it, all fuckin' academic. There was only one set of words that mattered in this match, and they weren't Yuki's, and pretty soon they were spinning as violently in Shimmer's head as anything else, as she lay flat on her back and waited for the world to settle.

[CaptainL]

And with that, it was over. The call of the three. The chime of the bell. Yuki let Shimmerlace go, allowing her to sink to the mat. And there, as she rose back to her knees, she sucked in a long, deep breath. Her head hung low, and she let her gaze linger on the mat before her. She had won. She'd done what she'd set out to do - she put Shimmerlace up to the challenge; she forced her to confront the sort of threat she would face in Angelina, and she had tested how well her abilities could live up to the Marauder just as Shimmer had asked her to. More to the point, she had made a hard-earned victory, and she had proven that she still had a future, even in light of the devastating, painful, and humiliating defeats she had endured up to this point. By all means, she should have been overjoyed to finally have such a burden off her shoulders.

So...why did she feel so empty?

At last, she rose to her feet, where she turned to exit the ring. As she did, though, she stopped and looked back over her shoulder, letting her gaze linger on Shimmerlace for just a moment more. Sure, she was her opponent. And she did have her...eccentricities. But at the end of the day, Yuki couldn't help but see a little bit of herself in the Young Lioness. She, too, was determined to prove herself, and to show the world she deserved to be taken seriously. She'd shown her passion in this match, and she'd shown just how much it meant to her to face her past and to set the matter right.

Even when she did lose, it was because she got ahead of herself and let herself get lost in the heat of competition, allowing herself to get caught in a trap. Just as Yuki herself had done in more matches than she cared to think about.

Maybe that was why Yuki felt so empty. Because she knew exactly how empty Shimmerlace felt right now - she had, after all, been in her place. But then, she also saw her potential.

If Shimmerlace kept chasing her dreams like this - if it truly did mean this much to her - then, perhaps, she'd one day have Young Lionesses seeking her out so that they could test themselves against her skills. If she really did share so much of her spirit with Yuki, then maybe it would one day lead her to the heights it had led Yuki herself.

But until then...she had to make those strides. And the only one who could do that was herself.

With one final sigh, Yuki turned to head backstage. But she couldn't help but feel that this wasn't over just yet.

Winner by Pinfall: Yuki Kazikura

Continued here