Riley Beckett vs. Blossom Fields - Practice Makes Perfect

Good followthrough, quick on the execution, and the impact was solid.

Practice made perfect, and Blossom had been practicing quite a lot lately.

The results spoke for themselves, as she showed some mat skills that you didn’t see too much outside of training camp, these days. Fundamentals. She would never be the fastest or the flashiest wrestler in the ring, but this sort of chain wrestling suited her well enough. It was a great way to get over on some of the less experienced wrestlers, if nothing else.

Unfortunately - or fortunately, depended on how you looked at it - Riley wasn’t in that number. Blossom had her down for a moment, but when that moment passed, legs were up and around her neck, pulling her down. A good counter, really, and it had her caught for a few seconds.

But then she stopped squirming. Then she started breathing. Calmed herself, brought her arms up, planted her palms on the floor, and…

Kip up. She pushed her way up and tried to pull her head out of the leggy trap in one burst, to rise up to her feet and get free, all at once.

Ha! Got her now!

Riley smirked to herself, having trapped the cute Blossom in a headscissor hold, escaping the headlock, and immediately began to start squeezing, having the other girl writhing about for several seconds...until she stopped.

"...oh crap..."

Riley was smart enough to figure out what would come next, and sure enough, Blossom kipped up, getting her head free and leaping back onto her feet, leaving Riley sitting on the mat with her legs out and nothing to show for it.

"Not bad!" she exclaimed, smirking at the standing Blossom. "But how about this!?" She asked, turning to put her hands on the mat and swinging her legs out hard in a half circle, trying to trip Blossom back up and send her back to the floor!

”Ta da.”

So that last part wasn’t all that necessary, really, but Blossom couldn’t help but have a little fun with this. She was proud of pulling it off, for one thing, and, well, she was feeling really good at the moment. The audience, the ring, being in a match with an actual opponent and not just sparring with DB all the time - it was thrilling, wild, so much fun. She didn’t know how much she missed it until just this moment.

”Thanks!” She chirped, nearly squealing at the complement. ”It took so long to get that right, you have no GWAH!”

Okay, maybe she was a little too happy, because she didn’t see that trip coming, and it totally dropped her. Blossom crashed on the mat and threw her legs up a second later, trying to roll off her shoulders and get to her feet. It was the quicker way to do it, she was sure, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to leave her open for a moment, and she had no idea how Riley would exploit that.

Success!

Granted, the trip didn't leave her many follow up options when she was already on her butt, and Blossom was quick to get back onto her feet, but it gave Riley enough time to get back on her own feet as well, arms already outstretched in a grappling stance.

"You clearly got some great skills! You've been putting in serious work haven't you? That's great! This'll be a good fight, and it'll mean a lot more to defeat you to know I'm defeating a good fighter! Now, ere I come!"

She boasted, the proud spirit of the Maori warriors she had watched in her youth motivating her to continue, and she charged in towards Blossom, trying to quickly close the distance between the two woman, duck low, and try to tackle her at the legs!

Blossom found herself in a time warp all of the sudden, taken back to her high school days. Those long hours in the gym, wrestling with the guys, tossing them around and laughing and just getting a good feel for the sport as a whole. Good times, and it was refreshing to get this sort of energy from another wrestler in the AFW. Too often, it felt like everyone was just into crushing their opponents or having sex with them. Real competitive spirit was a nice change of pace.

It was why she was smiling as she rose up, even as Riley started to come her way again, full steam ahead. As the woman dove her way, looking for a tackle, Blossom spun about and reached out, letting her arm slide around the back of her neck.

”Got you!” Pulling Riley in tight and dropping to a single knee, she tried to keep the woman under control with a tight side headlock, secure and strong.

For a moment, it seemed the direct tackle approach was successful in taking Blossom down...but the woman once again proved her mettle, dropping down and catching Riley in a tight side headlock while she was stuck on her belly!

"Gah! Again! Are you the mistress of the headlock!?" Riley exclaimed in mild frustration and playful joking as her head was pressed against the side of Blossom's body, kicking her booted feet against the mat as she tried to figure out the best way to change her position while stuck on her front on the mat!

Heh. Mistress of the Headlock. Blossom kind of liked that, actually. ”Sure, I can go for title.”

She gave the headlock a good wrench for emphasis, happy with the way it turned out - she had her foe secured, pinned, she wasn’t going anywhere for a good little while. Still, she wasn’t going to win the match this way. No one in wrestling history had ever submitted to a headlock of all things, and she doubted Riley would be the first.

”Let’s try…” Bubbles swung her leg around, moving over her opponent’s body to straddle her spine. She didn’t let go of her head, though. Instead, she brought her hold lower, wrapping an arm around the neck, transitioning into a tight sleeperhold. ”...this.”

Oh no...Oh no no no...this was not good.

Riley could feel Blossom straddle her back, getting her legs on either side of her and starting to slip the hold to be more around her neck, the kiwi able to feel the arm slipping down her head and towards her neck.

Absolutely not good at all.

More than aware that doing so would only give Blossom a better chance to fully lock in her hold, but not sure if she had any better options, Riley pushed herself off the mat, enough to get onto her hands and knees, and used the few seconds before Blossom fully locked the sleeper in to crawl towards the ropes, reaching out with her long arms to try and grab the bottom rope!

Oooooooooh yes. Yes, yes, yes. Yes.

Blossom was definitely feeling all the old vibes come back, as she wrestled Riley down and vied for domination. The woman wasn’t bad by any means, she could tell that based on the short time that they’d tussled so far...but the strength advantage was on her side, and sparring with Death Bunny had seriously upped her game when it came to dealing with taller opponents. The days when she simply lost because her opponent had a head over her were long gone.

She was looking forward to showing what her ground game could really do, get back to the basics and put her opponent through the paces.

Kind of a shame, then, that she got the ropes.

”Awwwwwww.” Blossom pouted, but followed the referee’s orders right away, backing away and giving her all the space she needed to get back. She stood and leaned forward with her hands on her elbows, swaying back and forth while she waited for Riley to reset. ”That was a lot of fun!” She chirped, practically radiating sunbeams with every word. ”Hope I’m not going too fast for you, lemme know if I need to dial it back a bit.”

As soon as the choke was released and the heavier body off of her, the lithe Riley was quick to get back on her feet, ready to defend herself...but instead of attacking, Blossom was again letting her back up, practically glowing with enthusiasm for their exchange so far.

Her smile was infectious, and Riley returned one of her own, giving her neck a small gentle rub and dusting her hands off on her shorts. "Well well, great wrestling skills, being the cutest woman, other than myself, for 5 miles, and a cheeky personality to boot. It's very refreshing to meet a lady like you! No need to slow down at all, I want you to stay at your best so it means something when I win!" she exclaimed, already starting to sidestep and start circling around her opponent again, the crowd, so used to heavy brawling matches, starting to respect the display of technical ability on display!