Raya Ashberry vs. Valley Doll III - Youth In Revolt

[BlackAkuma]

Match Type: Standard
Victory Conditions: Pinfall, Submission, or KO

***

found herself in the gorilla position, getting in her stretches before she was called out for her match. Around her, dozens of stagehands and other wrestlers buzzed about little worker bees in the hive, going to and fro and getting everything set up for the match. The acrid scent of sweat and makeup hung heavy in the air, along with other, more vulgar smells. She was fairly sure she could hear someone having sex down the hall.

Just another day in the life of a LAW wrestler. Best job in the world.

Before, she might’ve joked about those sorts of things, but after taking a little trip out of Japan, she earnestly felt that was the truth more and more. She, her mother, and her brother had traveled to the states for a family reunion, and she swore she couldn't remember the last time she felt so out of place. It was a strange thing, to feel uncomfortable surrounded by a bunch of people who looked like you, but there was no hiding that feeling. Valerie had grown up in Japan, knew it her entire life with only a few exceptions. Despite the USA being where her mothers had grown up, she felt no connection to it or to her family members.

She’d hated the food, so greasy and unappealing. She hated how loud everything was, how people blasted music all over the place, and didn’t seem to care much about those around them. She had the rudeness, the abrasiveness of it all.

Needless to say, but she couldn't have gotten back on that plane fast enough for her tastes. Now that shew as back in Tokyo, back home, getting a new match was one of her top priorities.

Thankfully, management was happy to oblige her requests, for once. Speaking of which…

”Ms. Doll!” One of the stagehands scooted by and waved her towards the curtains. ”It’s time.”

Valere snickered at the name, but didn’t bother to correct the woman - she’d gotten used to people thinking that was her last name and was long past caring about such things. With a few quick breaths, she made her way through the curtains just as her

[media]][/media]

started to play.

While Valerie wasn’t usually the type to play things up for the audience, even she managed a few smiles and waves as she descended the ramp. She even gave out a high five, though she immediately regretted that, since the man’s hands were greasy for reasons she didn’t want to know.

She took a second to wipe her hand clean on the apron, then slid in under the bottom rope, popped to her feet, and made the quick jog to her corner. Once over there, she turned towards the ramp and bounced on her heels while the music faded, keeping her blood pumping while sh waited for her foe to arrive.

[ellth01l]

Raya was backstage. Again. This was starting to become a bit of a recurring habit. Or was it rather a nightmare? Her, sitting there alone, contemplating her prospects at LAW. Things had certainly not gone to plan for her yet. She’d expected to take the world by storm and climb the ladder up quickly, yet here she was, still without a win. She’d known coming in that this was a tough business and an especially tough place to make a name for oneself, but still, she felt like she had it, and it was now all starting to slip away, she’d need to stabilize things soon. If she lost this upcoming match, she wasn’t sure what she would do.

Spoiler

She thought about her upcoming opponent, a middleweight again at least. Valley Doll wasn’t someone that Raya was overtly familiar with, and so she concluded that this meant that her opponent wasn’t someone that she particularly needed to fear or study. Her situation was starting to become bleak, but losing here and now might start to turn it irretrievably dire. Regardless, she still had faith in herself and her own abilities. Why step in the ring if she didn’t think she had a chance at victory? Once she got the ball rolling, she would in time look back on these rough times as a mere bump in the road.

Soon enough, the time passed, and it was time for her to once more make her way through the arena. She drowned out everyone, making room in her mind for only herself, her slow footsteps, her intentional ignoring of the crowd around her. She stared down at the ramp she walked down, then looked forward and set her sight on the ring that stood there, her opponent once again waited.

Before the match, Raya had told herself that she wouldn't trash talk. Not because she was afraid it would inevitably backfire on her, but she simply decided to conserve her energy for the actual match. She would simply stare at her opponent in silence. However, as she entered the ring, she was overcome by the urge to mock her opponent, and unable to resist, let out a sharp laugh. "Valley Doll III? What happened to the first two dolls, are they out of order, or were they just prototypes to begin with? I think I'll be the judge of whether you yourself are also a prototype, an outdated one, possibly."

[BlackAkuma]

Whenever possible, Valerie liked to research her opponents. She wasn’t obsessive about it, her mothers had always warned her of the dangers that came with relying too much on what her opponents could do in the past, but it was nice to have some idea of what her opponents could do before they started trying to cave her head in, she found.

With Raya, that hadn't been an option. Her Google-Fu wasn’t the best by default, but even so, she was surprised she couldn't find much at all about the woman’s past. Usually, there were at least a few grainy YouTube videos floating about, maybe a poorly kept Wikipedia page. As near as Valerie could tell, Raya had never wrestled for a promotion before LAW. A little odd.

Then again, that was true of Valerie, too…technically. Though she had only recently become an official pro wrestler, she’d been immersed in the lifestyle since she was born, thanks to her parents, and she’d been an amateur wrestler before that. The transition had been a smooth one. As her music faded and Raya’s began, she considered that about her opponent, figured she might be having some difficulty getting started up with the guiding lights that had been so crucial for her.

She looked on as Raya approached, noting her form, her size - the two of them weren’t too far apart in terms of physique, they could probably have swapped clothes if they’d wanted to. So she wouldn’t be able to just bowl the woman over with pure power.

Valerie was already contemplating her approach when her opponent stepped into the ring and threw an insult her way…or what she assumed was meant to be one, at least. She blinked a couple of times, caught flat by it, then shrugged and sighed as she stepped forward.

”I got the name from my mother and grandmother. It’s a generational thing.” She put her hands on her hips. ”Listen, I’m not big on the whole trashtalk thing, okay? We’re adults. We can just wrestle.”

She extended her hand, looking for a shake. ”Let’s have a good match.”

[ellth01l]

Raya was caught off guard and flustered slightly by her opponent's response, making her feel embarrassed as if she had been a child acting out and was now being scolded, but she quickly recovered and decided to double down on her insulting manner to cover up for it.

“Hmph, it’ll be a good match for one of us, at least, and I already know that it won’t be you.” She said while smirking cockily,refusing to shake hands with Valley Doll. “Although maybe I’ll do you the courtesy of shaking your hand after the match when you’re totally humiliated and defeated, if you ask me nicely!”

When the bell rang to start the match up, Raya opted to take a more cautious approach this time, as whenever she charged in boldly she always seemed to get herself in a bad situation right off the bat, and if it happened this time she might get herself in some major trouble since she had no physical advantage, at least from what she could glance. Up close, her opponent seemed like she was no small trifle, now that they were facing each other. And so, she decided to wait and see what Valley Doll’s first move would be, then she’d react accordingly.

[BlackAkuma]

Yeah, she figured she would get that response.

Valerie just huffed, closed her eyes, and resigned herself to it. She knew she would come across someone like this eventually, had seen enough of her parents’ matches to know that some wrestlers were just jerks. She didn't get it, quite frankly. She’d only just met Raya, and she was already acting as if this was some personal beef. They were just two people here to do a job.

She tapped her feeter as more insults were hurled her way, then shrugged. ”Fine. Have it your way.”

Valerie stepped back to her corner as the referee came between them and did a quick check. She looked both ways, threw her hand up, and the bell rang promptly afterwards, kicking them off.

She was rarely in a mood to waste time, and this was certainly the case here. She moved towards Raya straight away, brought her arms up, and attempted to lock up with the woman for a collar-and-elbow tie-up, wanting to get a feel for just how powerful her foe was before she started committing to anything big.

[ellth01l]

Raya had expected to wait a few more seconds as both gauged each other, but that wasn’t the case as she watched Valley Doll quickly make a move without wasting any time, approaching her with an intent to lock up, she waited until her opponent would approach close enough to begin locking up. However, she had no intention to engage in such a contest, as she wasn’t sure if she would win, but mostly, Valley’s words before the fight had made her come across as one who values respect in competition, thus Raya thought that she might be able to pull off a sneak attack right at the start in order to get the upper hand and blindside enough for a decisive advantage right at the get go.

Once Valley was close enough, Raya would feign going for the lock up before quickly attempting to knee her in the gut, and if that was successful she’d then attempt to grab Valley’s arm and put it in a hammer lock behind her back before then trying to push her down to the floor on her stomach, where she’d then try to place her knee on her back and hold her in a pin.

[BlackAkuma]

Locking up was always sort of a guilty pleasure for Valerie. While she didn’t like to brag outwardly about her power, she was always sort of pleased with herself whenever she managed to push an opponent back and get the better of them. She could get the better of most of the boys on her high school wrestling team, and she never let any of them forget it.

Aside from that, though, it was a good intimidation tactic, helped set the pace, and a great way to gauge info on what she was dealing with. She was actually looking forward to trying it with Raya.

So, of course, the woman denied her.

The knee to her stomach caught her off guard, and gave Raya all the time she could ask to catch her with that hammerlock, whirling around her and locked it in tight. Not too bad on the technique, she would give her credit, but if she thought she could out-technique her, the redhead was about to be disappointed, herself. This was well within Valerie’s wheelhouse.

As she was pushed forward, Valerie reached back, grabbed hold of Raya’s head with her spare hand, then jerked forward, trying to force her to flip over her shoulder with a snapmare, dropping her into a seating position and escaping the hammerlock all at once.

[ellth01l]

Raya smirked as she managed to get her in a hammerlock, she then started trying to push down, but suddenly her head was grabbed by Valley’s other hand who then flipped her over her shoulder with a snapmare and left her into a seated position, and had easily managed to escape the hammerlock.

Raya quickly stood up and backed away, making some distance before her opponent had the chance to capitalize on her vulnerable position. “That was a good one, I’ll admit that much. I’m glad you aren’t a pushover or this would have gotten boring quick!” She then made her move by going straight at Valley and trying to get in a single leg takedown, hoping still to get her on the ground.

[BlackAkuma]

Valerie didn’t expect that snapmare would keep Raya down for long - she looked tough, tough enough to take something like that all day and not get anything more than a sore butt. Even so, she came up a lot faster than she’d anticipated, back on her feet before she could capitalize. The woman had drive, she would give her that, though Valerie couldn't help but think she was trying too hard. Points for effort, though.

She was speaking, but Valerie wasn’t listening, instead keeping her focus on the important thing - her opponent’s body. Locked in, she waited with bent knee and open hands, expecting she would try to come at her directly again.

She didn’t have to wait long. Raya came in low this time, going for Valerie’s leg, and came close to catching. This was the sort of thing she’d trained for, though, and the reaction happened instantly, without even a thought. She shot her out behind her and came down on top of Raya’s body from above, wrapped her around the woman’s skull on the way down, and tried to catch her with a tight standing headlock, applying maximum pressure to keep her under control.

”Nope.”

[ellth01l]

Raya instinctively tried to grab at Valley’s arms, but it was too late as her opponent had managed to get on top of her and lock in the headlock quick enough. Raya grunted as she felt Valley’s muscular arms start to powerfully choke her, and started desperately trying to elbow her ribs while using her leg to try and trip or get her off balance, she had to do something quickly before she started getting into serious trouble if this kept up.

If all else failed and Valley kept up her relentless headlock, Raya would reach out to the ropes and try to grab them, hoping that they were standing close enough for her arms to be able to force the hold to break. It would signal a minor defeat in that Raya would admit that she'd been unable to break free with her own abilities, but it would still allow her to live and fight through the rest of the match rather than stubbornely brute force it as a matter of ego.