The Sun Can Blind (for BlackAkuma)

[Crossedes]

Her instincts didn't fail her, so she could avoid a mauling. Those survival skills could be invaluable. If Millicent had been moving at full speed, she could have punted Desdemona considering the direction she had rolled, but no young wrestler could think so many steps ahead. And not every opponent was as wisened and dangerous as the empress. There was nothing to correct, nothing to praise, but she could begin to envision that moldable clay yet again.

And Dizzy did not stop at evasion. So many wrestlers thought escaping their destruction was an excuse to regroup. Dizzy, continuing to show her spunk, was already looking for a response. And to her - or her mother's - credit, she picked the correct one. Millicent could do nearly anything in the ring, but she would never use her feet beyond kicking holes in skulls and diaphragms or treading on the weakest of opponents. She had been a target woman during her years as a footballer, and her wrestling style had not changed from those origins.

That made Dizzy's choice to grab her leg all too wise. She had surprised women with an enziguri from this position, but Dizzy remained low until she had a proper grip and began to rise. Top marks. Millicent's leg was strong, but she could not force it to the floor with an entire woman rising beneath it. "Mmhmm," she reservedly praised again. She teetered on one leg with impressive balance, but even the most dominant woman knew when going to the floor was the wiser decision. She collapsed to a knee, breaking her own fall, and rolled onto her side.

But the collapsing leg swung out, seeking to find Dizzy's ankles.

[BlackAkuma]

”Mmhmm.”

Dizzy echoed Millicent with an Italian-flavored version of her own noise and a cocky smile on top of it. It might not have been a huge accomplishment, but she was already doing better than 95% of the time with her mother, and she was feeling it more with each passing second.

She'd managed to keep hold of Millicent's leg as she stood up, though she was surprised to see that the woman didn't trip over immediately, showing way more balance than she would've expected from a woman in that weight class. Gravity got the better of her, bringing her down to a knee, and Dizzy raised her foot up to finish the job. Size didn't matter here, nobody wanted to take a boot to the chest.

Maybe a little premature, that. She might have gotten the bigger woman down, but there was a difference between being down and being vulnerable. Millicent demonstrated that when she swept her leg out and hit Dizzy with a sweep so strong that it nearly made her do an involuntary backflip. She came down on her chest, far from a graceful landing.

But she couldn't stop moving. Never stop moving.

Millicent was bigger, stronger, a seasoned veteran, but there was one thing that Dizzy had over her: She was faster. If only by dint of being smaller, but still. At the very least, it meant that she could get up to her feet first, and she tried to abuse that fact as she scrambled up, rushed forward, and leaped at her opponent with an elbow drop, attempting to crash into her before she could fully rise.

[Crossedes]

The circumstances fascinated Millicent while she watched her shin plow through Desdemona's feet. She had never studied Angela Belti that closely since their careers had not aligned, but the woman was bigger than even the empress. Her style of training would not provide someone as small as Dizzy with any practical knowledge, yet Dizzy was applying her size and agility well. Either Angela was a better trainer than Millicent would expect from someone with a reputation as a brutal monster or Desdemona had taken it upon herself to find alternative training. The latter would be preferable. She needed ingenuity.

Her mind flipped back to action and observation while Dizzy, showing good resilience, rushed to her feet. Millicent could barely manage a kip-up in space and certainly not with them both in the limited space of the corner, so Millie was only to her elbows by the time Dizzy was on both feet. She watched Dizzy lunge, cock her arm, and drop. Millie's raised arm didn't stop the falling elbow, and she took it right across her toned abdominals well enough that it thrust her back onto her back.

Millicent's praise was a soft moan at the elbow shot and laughter so wistful it was almost silent. She could see this little Italian crossing her problems into stitches, and she adored her good fortune in stumbling across her.

But, as her father would say in practice - again. Though downed, she formed the hand cupping her abs into a fist and swung it at Dizzy. Apply pressure and see what emerged.

[BlackAkuma]

One Punch. That was all she needed.

Dizzy had been doing well, far better than she ever expected to do against someone like Millicent. The last time she tangled with a woman this size, it had been Alicia Soto, and while she’d been able to get in a couple of good hits, it was clear to her that the Californian had been holding back against her, that she wouldn’t have stood a chance if she’d been serious. She didn’t think Millie was giving it her 100%, either, but even her 50% would probably be better than most wrestlers at their peak.

Bringing her down like this wasn’t a small feat, and she began to feel something approaching pride when she had a successful follow up. She sat up after the hit, beamed, and readied herself to capitalize.

And then the punch came. Right in the middle of her nose, too. She didn’t get the impression that Millicent was anything close to a boxer, but she didn’t need to be. That was a big fist hitting a little head, which left Dizzy, well, dizzy. It was the first time she’d taken a straight punch to the face, not even her mother used straight up strikes like that in their training, and it showed. She flopped to her back, blinking rapidly as she tried to shake it off.

”Hm. Okay, that was…” She rolled her head from side to side and slowly attempted to rise.

[Crossedes]

Millicent caught her with that one. Knuckles met with nose, and as a woman who had endured that same strike too many times to count, she knew that Desdemona could feel it through to the back of her skull. And the cub collapsed. Not the most impressive showing after taking one square hit, but not surprising, either. That would need to change. A girl could not dodge them all. "How often have you been hit?" she asked, arching her back and stretching her abs against her own absorbed blow from Dizzy's elbow.

But she gave Desdemona scarce time to answer. She rolled and stretched out her arm, and with her range, that arm swept over the top of Dizzy's petite body. She scooped at her, the outstretched arm snaking underneath Desdemona's armpit to pull her closer, into something resembling a half-nelson, her chest crushing down on top of Dizzy's. She saw how she dealt with a punch, so the next choice of a test was obvious - overpower her in a way she would rather survive than enjoy.

Millicent began to slowly rise, seeking to get to her feet and hold her "mentee" aloft in the same half-nelson grip in old-school catch wrestling technique. And what Millicent tended to lift, she often sent careening back toward the canvas, back first if Dizzy's position was any indication.

[BlackAkuma]

Today, Dizzy learned an important lesson: She did not like getting punched in the face.

For a first-timer, she didn’t think she did all that bad, though Millicent probably hadn't walloped her with all the power she could have. She was still conscious. That had to count for something; she could shrug it off if she had a minute. Maybe two. If the sound of Millicent rising nearby was any indication, though, she wasn’t about to get either.

”Not often, not often.” She shook her head as Millicent’s arm crossed her body and her chest pressed on top of hers. She didn’t hate getting pinned like this, but she fully recognized it was likely the start of nasty things. ”I’ve had some exes take a swing at me, but-”

She couldn’t finish her little anecdote before she was scooped up, lifted with ease by the towering redhead. It wasn’t a sensation she was unused to, her mother did stuff like this all the time, but she could guess that Millicent had something more painful in mind than she typically did. Dizzy struggled in the grip and threw a few wild punches into the German’s stomach, but strikes weren’t her specialty, and she didn’t have high hopes of damaging a body like this.

Dizzy braced herself as they reached the apex. This was going to suck, wasn’t it?

The answer: It did.

Millicent sent her soaring across the ring with the suplex, hurling her easily. That didn’t say much, given the size difference, but even so, the distance was impressive, and the impact was far more brutal than most would’ve expected. Dizzy came down right on her back and sat up immediately, arching her back and hissing with the pain before she flopped over on her side.

[Crossedes]

Exes had taken a swing at her? Millicent could see the value in knowing both who and why - who in case she was a member of the roster, why because she wished to know precisely if the cub knew how to antagonize. Scooping and trapping Dizzy brought that story to an end, however, so access to that knowledge would wait. She did not believe Dizzy could scare up the opportunity to peel her trapped arm and chest free, but she applied enough pressure and brought them so close together that she felt her bra digging into her shoulders, straining to hold onto her chest and Dizzy's frame alike.

The blows from Dizzy were competent. Enough of those knuckles knocking into her abs, stinging, would eventually wear her out. But Desdemona's weight abbreviated the process of positioning her for the suplex, and just as Millicent was dropping her first groans from the repeated impacts, she was turning and whipping Desdemona overhead. Late in the throw, she made an effort to avoid throwing her into the canvas so her mother would not return to find her unconscious.

When she landed on her back, she tilted her head for the upside-down view of Desdemona careening. She flew like the shot in shot put - someone should have marked that for the empress. But alas, there was no one to do so. Millicent turned over and pushed to her feet, in no hurry. "And that?" she asked as she approached, looking satisfied. "Did you have any exes who did that?" She reached down to tug on the Italian's hair and summon her to her feet.

[BlackAkuma]

Yes, that was the trouble with being attracted to big, powerful, violent women: they could throw you far when they wanted to. And Dizzy, small as she was, was quite throwable.

”No, can’t say I did.” She groaned the words out with half of her mouth muffled by the canvas before she began pushing her way up. ”Had a few that probably wanted to, though.”

Dizzy was on the path to getting on two feet when Millicent decided to speed up the process in one of the most painful ways possible. The funny thing was, unlike the German, she liked getting her hair pulled, but that was in the throes of passion, not in the middle of a match, and not while her strands were forced to support her entire body weight. She yelped and reached up to pull at the grip, pawing at Millicent’s hands, but that was just a reflex and a weak one. It wasn’t getting her anywhere, not with a grip like this.

So, alternate plans. Punching Millicent didn’t work much, and she doubted that kicking her battleship legs would do any better. But if she couldn't let make her opponent release her, maybe she could turn the grip in her favor.

The hands fighting Millicent’s grip changed to grabbing her by the wrist and holding tight, squeezing with all their bony might. With them secure - as secure as they’d get - Dizzy spun about, ducked under Millicent’s shoulder, and came out at her side, attempting to twist her limb about in an arm wringer. She’d done this move dozens of times with her mother, but never when she’d gone all out, and certainly not when her hair was gripped, so it was all up in the air. Still, if it made Millicent let go, Dizzy would call it a success.

[Crossedes]

Obsession with her own hair did not equate to the same for the women she wrestled, and the empress currently saw Desdemona's as a convenient handle. This unpleasant treatment happened in-ring and in catfights alike, and Dizzy might find herself in both if she worked for Millie. Thank God for her that old flames had woman-handled her, then. The German saw that as valuable life experience.

She was not, however, making any wise choices in escaping Millicent's grip. Time to goad her. "Do you plan to fondle my arm now?", she asked, her voice sing-song. She made the threat evident to convince the Italian of the urgency, lifting her opposite hand and leveling it at her chin like a guillotine's blade prepared to chop her head off or thrust nails-first into her throat. "That would not make for a pretty scene," she continued, with a click of her tongue.

But the spark of creativity must have returned to whisper to Desdemona, telling her to grab hold and attempt to twist Millicent's arm. Superior strength could not stop the force of Desdemona's entire body aiding in yanking Millicent's one arm into a wringer, and the empress griped as the arm ended up behind her. Fond of not having pain shoot through her hand, she conceded and released the grip. "Better."

With her arm in a genuine twist, she was not content to wait for Desdemona's ingenuity this time. Millicent spun to the ropes, falling against them with her chest and stomach to give herself enough momentum to propel back and attempt to shake Dizzy loose.

[BlackAkuma]

Threatening to knock her head off wasn’t something that Dizzy’s mother would have done, but she would be lying if she said it wasn’t compelling motivation. Her nose was still raw from the last blow and probably would be for the next day or so. The last thing she wanted was to take another smack or even worse, and that concern helped spurn her on into action. An action that, for a pleasant surprise, actually worked like a charm.

”Pretty sure there isn’t a part of you I wouldn’t fondle…” Work the arm, secure the grip, turn about. ”...If you let me...” She made sure to add that part in, sensing Millicent would want to hear it. ”...but no, not exactly.”

Even Dizzy knew that no one in the history of wrestling had ever won a match with an arm wringer, but it did its job effectively. It was all about control, shifting momentum in your favor. It made Millicent let go and kept all of Dizzy’s precious strands attached to her scalp—mission accomplished

The size difference reared its head again, though, as Millicent could bounce off the ropes and knocked Dizzy back simply, forcing her to let go of the hold. She started to stumble back but gained her footing as she turned around and ran towards the ropes. She picked up speed with every step and leaned forward to commit, erasing all the hesitation. Millicent was in just about the right spot, she would have to turn around in a moment, this might catch her off guard…

She ran to the ropes, leaped up, planted her feet on the middle rope, bounced off, and sent her body flying through space. Dizzy spun about as she soared and spread her arms wide, attempting to come crashing down on Millicent with a flying crossbody.

She muttered as she flew, chanting like a mantra under her breath. ”Work, work, work-”