Noblesse Oblige: Maria Crawford vs. Emily Nelson

[BlackAkuma]

Dazed. Aching. Dizzy.

Yes, Maria was not having the best of times wrestling with Emily Nelson. It had been a while, sure, but she didn’t remember the woman being this tenacious, and there was no getting around the obvious - she was getting well and truly thrashed. So much so that she was all the way out of it when the Scot came in for the pinfall.

”Two!”

Maria was aware, but that throw had rocked her more than she would ever care to admit. She couldn't put things together well enough to move enough, the referee’s hand was coming down for the final count…

”Thr-”

At the last second, the referee looked over and caught a glimpse of Maria’s foot on the bottom rope, just barely touching, as if it had reached the spot by magic. The crowd was booing, too, just as Zero Kotobuki was walking away. Funny that.

At least, Maria seemed to think so, if her smirk was any indication.

[Underdoggo]

After all this time, it was easy to forget that Maria was actually a skilled wrestler in her own right. Maybe it had been too long since Emily had fought against other Wrestle Angels, or maybe she was just rusty in her own right. Either way, Maria had been giving her a much rougher fight in this match than she had expected. Even as Emily covered her for the pinfall, she had to admit, begrudgingly, that her fellow Briton was giving her a good fight so far. Even as she admitted this, though, she held out hope that Maria would have the common sense to stay down.

And at first, it seemed that Maria had been left too dazed to kick out. Which was why Emily was surprised when the ref declared a rope break.

"What the--" Emily turned around and saw Zero backing away. She glared at the green haired girl. "Why you little--" She retained her cool at that point. There would be no sense in rushing out the ring to go after Zero: that would be falling right into...well, whatever Maria's plans were, and quite frankly Emily refused to play the aristocrat's games. Instead, grabbing Maria by the arm, she would try to drag her prone opponent to the center of the ring, where Zero couldn't interfere.

And, once there, she would grab a hold of Maria's long, powerful legs, interlock her own shapely legs with her opponent's, and then drop down onto her butt, palms against the mat, trying to lock in figure four leg lock! "Ye always did brag about yer skill with submissions, Maria," she breathed, "so consider this a taste of your own medicine." To winch the figure four further, Emily would try to grab for Maria's wrists, hoping to elevate both their entwined legs upwards to stretch Maria further!

[BlackAkuma]

The crowd might’ve hated it, but Maria could not have been more pleased with her compatriots interference. It was always a good thing to see Zero taking some initiative, a far cry from the woman she’d been when the two first met and started their ‘relationship’. At the start of it, the Silent Killer could hardly take a bathroom break without asking for permission, and while a lot of that stoic, unthinking nature remained, they’d made great progress in restoring her autonomy. It was an ongoing process, but she was showing signs of independent thought every day, and this was merely the latest example.

It was enough to put a smile on Maria’s face. A shame it would last for too long, though.

”What-” She gasped and struggled as she was hauled to the center of the ring, but Emily proved far too fast for that, wrapping her up in a tight figure four before she could even think of escape. In the middle of the ring, nowhere to go, nothing to do but fight.

And she did fight. Emily was able to snag one of her arms, but Maria kept the other one free and used it to lash out, trying to slap her foe across the face, even as the figure-four continued to twist her legs, a blow fueled by pure spite.

[Underdoggo]

Maria had always prided herself on her excruciating submissions, Emily recalled. And from what she had seen of Maria in action, she knew that Maria had every right to be proud: while she was no Toshimi Minami or Natasha Han, her holds were indeed painful just to look upon. But while Emily was mainly a powerhouse, she was no slouch in the submissions department either...as she evinced as she managed to trap Maria in a figure four leg lock in the center of the ring. Emily's shapely legs were soon intertwined with Maria's, and as Emily leaned back on her palms, she was rewarded to see Maria now struggling furiously to escape.

"Come on, Maria, be a sensible lass and give!" Emily shouted to her opponent. Maria's response came in an open palm, as Maria leaned forward just enough to hit Emily with a furious slap. The blow unbalanced Emily, sending her crashing onto her back: blinking in a dazed, Emily grimaced and tried to prop herself up on her palms again, but the blow had done enough to weaken her hold...something Maria could surely capitalize upon...

[BlackAkuma]

Sensible? Maria did like to think she was a ‘sensible lass’ most of the time, but she would be lying if she said that this little spat wasn’t working her nerves something awful. The idea of recruiting Emily was drifting further and further away, replaced with the simple notion of just beating her. They could always make her offer after she’d beaten some sense into the stubborn scot. This was a mare that needed breaking.

”Bugger off!” The slap did it’s just knocking Emily silly for an instant. It wouldn’t be enough to break the hold by its lonesome, but that was fine - she had a far more interesting idea in mind.

Maria twisted her body left, then threw it hard to right, forcing both women into a roll, trying to get over to her stomach so she could reverse the figure four and put all the pressure back on her obstinate opponent.

[Underdoggo]

Emily had expected cruel submission holds from Maria. She had also expected underhanded attacks-- eye rakes, low blows, that sort of thing: for all of her vaunted pedigree, Emily knew that Maria did anything to win, no matter how heinous. But she wasn't expecting something as simple, or so stereotypically aristocratic, as a slap. Her face felt red after having received the brutal palm strike, and while she gritted her teeth and tried to maintain the hold, she felt her legs loosen a little.

She was so focused on retaining the leg lock, though, that she was taken by surprise when Maria did an elegant roll. The next thing Emily knew, she was on her front, her chest pancaking against the mat, her butt forced upwards in a rather inelegant manner...and above all, her legs now being twisted in turn as Maria effectively reversed her hold. "Ah...AAAH!" Emily cried as sharp pain lanced through her legs. Gritting her teeth, Emily pushed up on her palms, and tried to drag the two of them towards the ropes...

[BlackAkuma]

The position was awkward, so there was little that she could do to stop her opponent from making it to the ropes, but Maria enjoyed the experience all the same, loving the sound of Emily in stress. It was her own fault, really - she should’ve known better than to try and beat her with a move like this, trying to submit a submissionalist. It was an area that she was confident in, one she knew could come out on top each time, and the brutish Scot was going to pay for her arrogance.

Sure enough, she did manage to reach the ropes - painfully, brutally, but she did it. Maria milked the hold for all it was worth, letting it drag out despite the referee’s protests. ”One! Two! Three! Four! Fi-”

Maria let go of the hold just in time to save the match, and rose her feet as her opponent wallowed. ”What’s wrong, Emi?” She stood up, reached over to grab a hold of Emily’s hair and lift her up, then gave her a sharp slap across the face to knock her back down. Starting to like doing that, quite a bit. ”Little much for you, eh? Can’t hang?”

[Underdoggo]

Emily's legs felt like they were going to snap at the knees as Maria twisted cruelly into her with the reverse figure four. Facedown against the mat, it was taking all of Emily's willpower not to scream as she pulled the two of them towards the ropes, dragging them both inch by inch along the mat. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Emily managed to grab the lower rope, huffing from the exertion, and allowing herself a brief sigh of relief as Maria finally released her.

The relief didn't last long, though, as a second later Emily's scalp burned as Maria yanked on it. Unable to suppress a cry of pain, Emily felt herself being dragged up to her feet...only to take a sudden, brutal slap to the face. Pain and shock bloomed across her cheek, and the blow sent her tumbling onto her back again, one hand reflexively clutching her face.

[BlackAkuma]

After the slap connected, Maria took a moment to run her tongue along the palm, saving the taste of her foe’s sweat along her glove, as the crowd made their rampant disapproval known. She flashed a quick smile Zero’s way, one that wasn’t returned, then brought all of focus back to Emily.

While she was in the driver’s seat now, the pain in her lower legs was a stark reminder of how bad things could get if she gave this woman half a chance. Tempting as it was to start wailing away on her or lift her up for another big move, the smarter play would be to drain her stamina first, and she had just the move for it.

With Emily recovering from the slap, Maria stepped over to her side and gave her a sharp kick in the ribs, just enough to force her over onto her chest. She stepped over the Scot, sat down on her back, and proceeded to wrap her arms around the feisty woman’s throat, catching her in a tight chokehold and pulling her back, back, back in a variation of the camel clutch - a move that she liked to call Breath Play.

[Underdoggo]

Emily's face was now a shade of deep red to match her outfit, a welt spreading across her features in the wake of Maria's vicious slap. Her face burned, and not just with pain: that slap had been as humiliating as it been painful. Not for the first time, Emily found herself vowing to make Maria pay for this insult, to make her regret climbing into the ring with her.

Before she could even set about rolling back to her feet, however, Maria's boot came whistling in, slamming hard into her ribs. She gasped and went rolling away, coughing and sputtering as she clutched around her chest...and then she felt herself being shoved onto her front. The next thing she knew, Maria's arms were circling around her head, chinching tightly around her throat even as they wrenched her head back.

"Nnnaagh--" Emily's cry of pain was lost as her upper body was torqued back painfully, forcing her back to curve painfully, and causing her chest to jut outwards at an embarassing angle. Her arms pawed uselessly at Maira's as she tried to pry the other Briton's choking grip loose...all the while the lack of air started to make her feel weak...