Shion Akahoshi vs. Valley Doll III - Bombs Away

[BlackAkuma]

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

***

So.

had a manager now, with Adrian Kytes. How were things different than they had been before?

For starters, she would admit that her schedule had become a bit more focused now that she had guidance under the senior wrestler. Adrian’s expertise was helping her be a bit more efficient with her time, working out a training schedule that made better use of the facilities and getting more skilled sparring partners for her to work with, which allowed for her to better hone her skills. The woman had good advice to share, and it was nice to get the perspective of an older wrestler she wasn’t related to.

Nothing against her parents, but they both had a way of embellishing their history, she’d found - or maybe that was just how things sounded in her head. It was always hard to look at the people who raised you well in a negative light, but with Adrian, she felt she was getting a less varnished view of the industry she’d signed onto.

She was also adept at matchmaking, which was already coming in handy, getting her a match in a cushy time slot she would’ve otherwise been ignored for. Valerie wouldn’t have even known who to talk to, but Adrian knew the right levers to pull, the right hands to shake.

It worked out. And while she was still feeling out this whole process, so far she couldn't fault the results. They got her where she was now: On her way to the ring, in front of large crowd, making her way down the ramp while her

blasted out behind. She moved with a bit more energy than usual, even slapping a few hands she would’ve typically missed on her entrance, then slid into the ring.

She raised her fist up high, playing to the crowd a bit and getting them on her side as she made her way towards her corner - another one of her manager’s prescriptions, a little something to help sway public perception in her favor and build some of her long-term momentum.

Everything was in place, it felt like. Now came her part in the equation: She needed to win. Eager to get this started, Valerie leaned against the turnbuckle and got in some last-minute stretches as her music faded…

[Unrelated]

It was time for Shion's first match in L.A.W. against someone larger than herself.

Not that her previous opponents were tiny, nor was this "Valley Doll III" some kind of giant. Shion had certainly faced bigger in the indies, but firsts were firsts. Sort of.

The name made her breathe a sigh when she first saw it. It certainly elicited the idea of yet another California girl who was better off on a beach than in in the ring.

Her

fired off its harsh guitar hits, signalling it was time. Shion stepped out onto the stage in her long coat, arms out and giving the disorderly crowd only a passing glance before locking onto her opponent. Blonde for sure, but not what she was expecting at all; her opponent instead looked like she walked in off some college or olympic wrestling team!

WHITE VALLEYS, RED STARS
IRON WILLS CRASHING THE EARTH
THE RING SHAKES TONIGHT

Shion's unhinged grin returned as she advanced down the ramp, gracing the crowd with a couple more glances as she raised her arms out to either side, waving her hands toward herself to encourage the "fans" to keep the jeers coming.

Her pace only increased until she was at the side of the ring, bounding up to the apron with reckless energy that she carried into a hop over the top rope, landing with a bit of a spin as she removed her coat so it could billow through the air before falling to the mat in a heap. A little kick sent it into the corner before Shion turned to face her opponent again.

Wrestling Attire

"All right! Let's fire up the night!" Shion called out in English with a hefty Japanese inflection as she took bold strides toward the center of the ring, looking Valerie up and down and fully intending to keep approaching until she was in the blonde's face, still flashing her wild grin with her head cocked back and to the side in a way that let her look down her nose at the taller woman. "Little too serious to be runnin' an adorable theme like that, huh? 'Zat your choice, or what?"

[BlackAkuma]

Shion wasn’t the only one going in a little blind to this - Valerie, similarly had a big question mark when it came to her opponent. She’d done a little searching online when the matchup was told to her, but either the woman didn’t have much online presence or her Google Fu was just that poor. She was going into this bat-blind, for the most part.

But that was okay. One of the skills her mother drilled into her was sizing up your opponent from the first sighting and taking notes the moment they came through the curtain. ‘Creating a profile’, they called it. As soon as Shion’s music started, she was already taking notes. And what did those notes say?

Confident. She wore a smile, unbothered by the situation, despite going up against a bigger opponent.

Athletic. Solid frame, not overly bulky, probably relying on speed.

Energetic. She made her way to the ring with noticeable pep in her step, like she was ready for the bell at any moment.

Valerie also didn’t miss that the crowd seemed to have a decent amount of disdain for her, jeering her already, which put her on guard. There was a reason for that. Whether it was good or bad, she’d have to find out.

She came out of her corner to meet Shion in the middle, but she was a touch taken aback when the woman went further and actually got in her face. She stood, baffled and blinking for a moment, until she processed her opponent’s words.

”Theme?” Her brow furrowed, then she shook her head as the realization sat in. ”It’s a family thing. Don’t read too much into it.” She stepped and gave her opponent a quick, tidy bow, before she continued in her native Japanese. [”Let’s have a good match, Shion-san.]”

[Unrelated]

For a moment Shion wondered if maybe the woman just didn't speak English, until the terse reply finally arrived.

Oh boy. This one seemed to be all business. Possibly painfully so.

「Oh, is being a boring tightass a family tradition as well?」 Shion followed the switch to Japanese, bending forward slightly while also physically following another step, almost as if to mock Valerie's bow while giving a challenging look up at her.

The referee moved to separate them, actually quick on her job this time after the jumpstarts in both previous matches. It did nothing to break Shion's gaze. "Come on!"「Don't slow me down. Bring on the fight!」

It was very unlikely that Valerie was as physically slow as she looked, unless that confused reaction carried over into her fighting style. Shion could easily see the woman hanging back cautiously, or trying to surprise her with a firing low grapple in the style that singlet suggested. Either one had the same answer, at least.

Shion was already bouncing on her feet and ready for the bell, and the moment it struck, she launched herself with a reckless spinning kick aimed just under Valerie's chest! Maybe the woman would even lunge low into it and eat a boot to the head for her trouble, but to Shion it was all the same. It was time to throw down and she wasn't going to hold back!

[BlackAkuma]

‘Boring tightass’?

For a second, Valerie thought her Japanese was off, which would be weird thing considering it was her first language. But no, she heard her right. This woman who she had only just met, was already taking potshots at her. Her mothers had warned her about this sort of thing, people who’d tried to rile her up right out of the gate, and she had already tasted a little of that in other matches. But this blatant, this immediate, this right-out rude? That was new. Very new.

Valerie blinked, unsure how to respond at first, and the referee stepped between them before she could say anything. Not that she would’ve rattled off anything clever if she hadn't, trashtalk was never Valerie’s thing. That wasn’t to say a large part of her wasn’t about to take satisfaction in shoving those words back up Shion’s mouth.

The chance was coming soon, too. Valerie bounced on her heels and rolled her shoulders, loosening up as she matched her opponent’s rhythm, her ponytail swinging back and forth. Left and right and left and right and-

”DING!”

Valerie shifted into her grappling stance and prepared to lock up, only to see that was absolutely not what Shion had on her agenda. Instead, her opponent was spinning around, in what she clocked right away as a spinning kick - one of the former Valley Doll’s favorites, as it turned out.

Valerie stepped aside and took the blow to the ribs. Not pleasant, but worth it, since it allowed her to catch Shion by the ankle and wrap her arm tight around it, forcing her opponent to balance on one foot for a precarious moment. From there, she threw her body to the side, rolled, pulled the little loudmouth along for the ride, and tried to send her flying with a Dragon Screw Leg Whip.

[kerfine]

The match had started and the crowd was ready to roll for the debuting Shion and the 3rd generation blonde bruiser, so much so in fact that an extra presence at ring side had gone unnoticed by the crowd and hopefully the competitors: Adrian Kytes, Valley Doll III's new manager had managed (ha) to sneak her way to ringside to support her client and tactfully staying out of the way of any camera crew, nodding along with a small smirk as VDIII got to work.

Dressed in her fairly simple jacket & jeans outfit she could have been mistaken for a fan who hopped the rail if not for the fact that no security was trying to bundle her out of the arena. Not that Adrian wanted to cause a scene anyway the focus needed to be on Valley and show off her strengths such as how ring aware she was: quickly scouting the opening kick and moving to secure the leg for a counter.