L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

The crowd were stunned, confusion surrounded the arena as the Dragon would lay there on his back and was not moving much. His eyes were open and he was breathing, but his body refused to move. Had he reached his limits? Some LAW staff would surround the ring, not sure whether to intervene or not as the referee did not give them any signal for a injury or anything.

The timer had stopped at the 30 minute mark temporarily, as the match was indeed on hold. Valerie would stand in the center of the ring and hunch forward, placing her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. She asked her opponent if he was good to continue but before Ryu could respond, the referee would intervene. "Listen Kid, I thought I told you to back up. Back to your corner now, or I swear I'll DQ you from this match." the referee said, not sounding happy at all.

From there, he would get down on his knees and place Ryu's arm over his shoulder as he would drag him towards the corner of the ring, making him rest against the bottom turnbuckle while he looked to assess whether he was good to continue. "Listen champ, she's all over you. You can't continue like this. No one wants to see you like this, just end it. It won't matter to your legacy" he whispered. Ryu gritted his teeth and grabbed the referee's collar, pulling him in. "S-shut the hell up and continue the match" he said pushing him away. Ryu grabbed the ropes to the side to pull himself back up but fell right back down on his ass, breathing heavily. "I...just need a moment to...nrgh, recover" he said.

"Tch, if you don't do it then...." the referee said before moving away from Ryu's corner to Valerie's corner. The official approached the young wrestler, the crowd getting restless and confused even more. "He won't admit it but he cannot continue. I told him I'm calling this match off, declaring you the winner but he refused. He won't quit." he said.

"Listen Kid, hey hey eyes here" he said, being rather harsh to the young wrestler. "I need you to agree with me one thing. I need you to agree with my decision to call off this match. He can't continue and you know it. I know you're a young wrestler trying to make a name for herself but in this business, respect goes a long way and there is nothing respectful about you just dominating him without him mustering any comeback. So, I need you to back me up here...." he said.

The weight of the world and her promise to Ryu was on the line now. It was Valerie's call.

Valerie wasn’t 100% sure what Ryu expected to get out of all of this—maybe trying to reclaim some honor after their first outing against each other? Possibly. A pride thing, looking to even the scales. She could understand that to an extent, she would definitely want a rematch herself if their positions had been swapped, but…

No. No, this was not going well for him.

Valerie made her way back to the center of the ring at the referee’s urging, casting a curious eyebrow his way at all the pushiness. She wasn’t about to attack Ryu while he was down, that had never been her style, but she wasn’t keen on holding back, either.

She hung back, waiting, as the referee deliberated with Ryu, and when he came back to her he did so with a choice, and a clear one - needing her consent to end this match. With no small amount of guilt-tripping, too, as if that was needed. She wasn’t too thrilled about the prospect of calling this one in such a way, but she was even less thrilled about the prospect of doing permanent damage to a fellow wrestler, an old man, a veteran.

She huffed, closed her eyes, and nodded. ”Fine. Call it.”

That was all the referee needed to hear. He didn't take a moment longer, nor did he second guess his decision. Once Valerie said to call it, he would signal the timekeeper to end the match. The bell rang and there was confusion surrounding ringside and indeed around the whole arena. The match was only half way done in terms of the time. It had only been 30 minutes and Valerie only had gained two points, a submission and a pinfall victory. The KO victory was still left, and Beyond Total Victory had not been achieved.

So why then the bell?

The referee would grab Valerie's arm and raise it only briefly, before letting it go. Not really happy about declaring her as the winner but he did do his job- apparently begrudgingly. The last thing that Ryu heard was Valerie saying "Fine. Call it". His facial expression were full of anger and frustration. He glared at her from his corner of the ring before slapping the mat in anger when he realized what had happened. Not only had he lost the match, not only was he unable to finish it but Valerie broke the promise she made to him- that they were going to finish the match no matter what.

Some staff and the referee attempted to help him up but he refused the help, pushing them aside as he rolled out of the way. He didn't acknowledge Valerie nor wanted to look at her. He turned his back to the ring and started to gingerly walk up the ramp to the backstage area, frustrated and disappointed at his opponent for what he did.