Kyoko Akan vs. Valley Doll III - Final Exam

[BlackAkuma]

Match Type:
Victory Condition: Pinfall, submission or KO

***

Okay. Kyoko Akan. What did Valerie know about her?

She had her statistics memorized. Her mother had made her memorize the stats of all the champs when she came into the company. Five foot eight, about 160 pounds. Finishing moves were the Akan Buster, the Spear, and the Queen’s Drop, all deadly. A notable striker, but good on the mat, too, and fairly tactical. Strong, swift, skilled, the deadly combination. She’d taken down a slew of top names on her title reign. Wyvern, Akane, Alizeh…

There was also that stuff with the ‘Belly Queen Title’. Valerie didn’t really get that.

That was the woman Valerie found herself against, the woman standing across from her right now as she leaned against the turnbuckle. She might not have had a title anymore, but that almost didn’t matter. She was a big name in LAW, famous and storied and taking her down would be a big deal, just as big as it would’ve been if she’d managed to defeat Alizeh Midori. She’d come up short and lost that opportunity, but would this slip through her fingers, too.

Don’t think about that. Can’t think about that. Focus. ”Okay.” She muttered under her breath and dropped down into a crouch for some quick stretches. ”Okayokayokayokay…”

Valerie could either go with the slow start or come charging in. In most matches, she would opted to rush in and press her strength advantage, but here, she opted for the more cautious approach. She made her way around the ring with slow steps, taking her time, keeping her distance, before she started to move in with her arms raised for a collar-and-elbow tie-up.

[Fairy Dragon]

By comparison, Kyoko didn't know shit about this Valley Doll and she wasn't even sure she wanted too. At the very least she had the good sense to know that she stood no chance of beating her at wordplay, but she still thought she could outwrestle her despite having a face that looked like it she just graduated from her dojo a month ago. Far too green, far too eager. She'd be a lot less of both after this bout, because regardless of how inexperienced she seemed to Kyoko she wasn't holding back an inch, she'd push and attack until the fodder in front of her stopped moving.

Spoiler

The bell ringing signaled Kyoko's attack and would step forward and lock up with Valley in a collar and elbow, the two tugging for control in the hold. But Kyoko pushed against her and could tell that the girl at the very least had the basics down and was holding her own, raw power would take too long to bring her to her knees. so she'd try technique, and would push on her for a few more seconds just long enough to eventually go back and try to pull off an arm drag to send her to the mat!

[BlackAkuma]

Feet planted. Back strong. Lean in hard, but don’t overcommit. Don’t watch your opponent’s eyes, look at their feet. Watch your center of gravity.

Valerie ran through the mental checklist as she and Kyoko locked horns, doing everything she’d been taught in this hold. Perhaps more than anything, though, she was gathering data, seeing how the former champion reacted to her. Right away, she could see the power difference between them. It wasn’t a huge gap, but it was a gap. She could work with that.

But Kyoko, true to form, had an answer for her, even this early. Valerie saw the shift in her feet, but it was too late for her to do anything about it, as she was sent up and over with an arm drag. She couldn't fight it.

So she didn’t fight it. Instead, she grabbed Kyoko’s arm as she flew over, rolled with the move, and maintained control of the rise as she popped up to her feet. Wasting no time, she ducked down, twisted under Kyoko’s shoulder, and tried to pull her arm into a hammerlock, hoping to secure her from there.

[Fairy Dragon]

Kyoko had the strength advantage, but as a wrestler she knew that strength was not everything and she wanted to keep a rookie like this on her toes. Her arm drag brought her forward and sent her to the mat like she expected. But what she didn't expect was that Valley would somehow be ready for that the moment she attempted it and once she was on the mat that she would endure the arm drag and quickly move to get her arm in a snag swooping in to her side and trying to pull her into a hammerlock.

"Aegh! oow! Shit!" Kyoko gasped turning against Valley doll to try and keep her from fully applying the hammerlock but she was bending it enough that it was hurting Kyoko as she tried it. Slowly she'd push forward to keep herself at an angle without giving Doll her back until she could get enough space to roll forward to try and stop her entirely. If she did she would rise up to her feet and use her free hand to chop down on Valley's own to get her to let go before trying to kick her back.

[BlackAkuma]

Kyoko was strong. Valerie had no illusions that this was one of the rare times she fought a woman in her division she couldn't immediately overpower, and that she might, at times, be working from a position of weakness. She accepted that. She worked with it.

Skill and technique were good ways to counter that, and that's what she was banking on as she caught Kyoko in the hammerlock, trying to keep her under control. It seemed to pay off, at first, but the former champion wouldn’t be so easily cowed.

They rolled through, came up, and that gave Kyoko enough leeway to reach over and slice through the hold, forcibly separating them. A kick to the stomach forced her back a step back, but Valerie wasn’t willing to give that space up so easily.

She threw herself back in, this time going low and reaching out, trying to grab Kyoko’s leg, plow into her midsection, and bring her to the mat with a double-leg takedown.