We Are The Champions

Even with the championship belt lifting her spirit to new levels, Valley couldn’t help but share some of Emily anguish over Natasha’s disappearance. To know that she hadn’t even said good-bye to her friends was more than a little disturbing, and made her wonder what the reasons were. It wouldn’t be the first time a wrestler abruptly dropped out of the sport, but they usually took the time to clear the air before they went…

The change in topic was a welcome one, and the mention of Chris brought her smile back. ”Yeah, yeah, I took on Chris. We hit it off really well, actually. Fast friends, a lot in common. We hung out, she helped me with my taxes this one time, she even…”

Valley’s voice trailed off and a blush came over her. She’d been a little too close to taking this information into awkward, Too Much Information territory. Couldn’t help it, she was chatty. Her heart was still beating like crazy from the match, the adrenaline hadn’t turned off.

”But yeah.” She sat up and gave the face of her belt a slap. ”We fought, twice. First time she got me, but I beat her just a few months ago. Who else, who else.” Valey held up a hand and started ticking off fingers. Teddy Cat Hori, Haruka Date, Chris, and yeah...Nat. Seven matches between them.”

The mention of Chris Morgan had been impressive enough. After all, the American powerhouse had always been a force to be reckoned with in the Wrestle Angels roster (even if she had become the black sheep of the group near the end of the league), but the other two names took her by surprise. Teddy Cat Hori was another girl who Emily had never encountered, but understood to be small, agile, and easily overlooked. But Haruka Date, easily one of the most skilled martial artists of Wrestle Angels? That was something else altogether. She hadn't even known Haruka was in the AFW until now.

"Hori and Haruka? Not bad. How did you do against those two?" Emily asked, remaining calm and aloof as she took another sip of her scotch, a stark contrast to Valley's adrenaline-fueled bubbliness.

Valley lit up when Emily asked her for specifics. Normally, she wasn’t the type to brag about her accomplishments...but, if she was being asked for details, well, she was in the mood to give them. If there was ever a time to puff her chest, this was it.

”Date was a tough one.” Valley sighed. ”I thought I liked to dish out kicks, but that one - just BAM, BAM, BAM. Lots of blunt force trauma. It took some doing, but I managed to drop her with my powerbomb variation after I wore her down with the figure-four headlock. She made me work for it.”

”Now, Teddy,” Valley held up a finger. ”Teddy was a surprise. I was only vaguely familiar with her Wrestle Angel work, so when she showed up to answer a challenge, I was a little disappointed. She’d been out of the ring for a while, thought she’d have the rust, but…well, you should see her now. She’s encorporated a lot of power moves into her style, gotten freaky powerful. She ragdolled me a lot for the first third of the match, before I got my act together. How did I…” Valley’s voice trailed off as she tried to remember the ending of her match. So many, they started to blend together.

”Oh, yeah. I tried to go for a moonsault from the top rope, she cut me off. Tried to superplex me, but I turned it into a Sliced Bread and got the pinfall. Great stuff. Annoying with the cat stuff, though.”

Emily nodded along as Valley described her matches. That sounded like Date and Hori alright: Haruka was just a relentless striker, and the Teddy Cat...well, she was just full of surprises. But the fact that Valley defeated both of them said a lot about her stamina, skill and determination as well. Not that Emily needed proof that Valley was good: the fact that she had just won the Entropy title was proof enough of that.

"Sounds like ye've had a bumpy road to get here," she said with a smile, "against lasses I know to be tough opposition. So, now that ye have that nice shiny belt of yours, what's next for you, champ?"

Valley opened her mouth to answer Emily’s question, then shut it just as fast, her brows furrowing up. That was actually a good question, one she hadn’t pondered too hard. She’d been in such a rush about getting the belt that the thought of what she’d do afterwards never even occurred to her.

She looked down at it a moment, thinking, seeing her reflection in the gold. The Entropy Title was a unique one - Valley had the right to name her challengers, but they had the right to choose the match. A double edged sword, but one that she liked. She’d done mostly standard matches since she joined, it would be nice to switch that up when she was in her twilight. But how to capitalize on that…

”An open challenge.” She nodded, the idea coming to her in a flash, but sounding too right to ignore. ”I’ll come out every other episode and take on anyone who pops up. Any match they want, anytime they want.” She gave a curt nod, then turned to Emily, looking to see what she thought of the idea. ”The year before last, I made a lot of noise, protesting champs who didn’t defend their belts. Have to live by my words, right?”

Emily raised an eyebrow at Valley. The new champion had Spink, she had to give her that. "Oh Aye? That's bold as brass, I'll give ye that, luv." She took another sip from her drink. "But are ye ready for that? Im not doubting ye're capable. Ye may have taken on a bunch of Angels and even beaten Alaina, but are ye ready to paint a big target sign on yeself like this?"

Emily had no I'll will towards Valley, especially after sitting and talking with her these few minutes. All the same, a small part of her, namely her pride as a Wrestle Angel, was wondering if maybe, just maybe, she should throw the gauntlet down, do what Natasha did and break Valley's winning spree against the old WA roster...

Valley was just about to respond when she heard the murmur of the crowd start to rise, a steady din that we followed by the familiar tune of her girlfriend - Silver Ace was making her way to the ring, and she got to view it in glorious HD thanks to the numerous cameras around the room. The crowd was practically going insane as her girlfriend came down, waving the Canadian flag, with Rush booming out over the loudspeakers. It made her glad she’d gone to the Skybox, for the sake of her eardrums.

”Oh, she’s wearing her first outfit.” Valley fidgeted a bit, more than happy to see her girlfriend happy. She remembered herself, though, and turned back to Emily before she could get wrapped up in the moment.

”Well, I’m a wrestler with a belt. There was a target on my back the moment I won this, might as well embrace it.” She gave Emily a sly glance. ”What would you do? If you won the belt.”

Her head titled to the side, with a hint of mischief in her eyes. ”If.”

A wave of excitement was felt and heard from the audience all of a sudden as the first of the combatants entered. In truth, Emily had never seen Silver Ace in action before, so it was interesting to see her front a skybox seat. She had to admit, the Canadian seemed, at face value, to be good, honest fighter. It took Emily few seconds, though, to realize that Valley was roaring at her as well, a dreamy expression on her face.

And then Valley was looking back at her, and Emily got an answer to her question. "If I had it?" She set her drink down on the armrest and straightened her face into a more serious expression. "Lass, if I didn't know any better, I'd say ye were egging me to throw the gauntlet."

Valley was finding it harder and harder to pay attention to Emily with her girlfriend coming down for one of the biggest matches of her career, but all the same, she couldn’t ignore the possibilities, here. Not just to put another notch on her belt of Wrestle Angels, but she liked the idea of taking Emily on. Almost as big as Chris, but not quite, and she had great legs that she knew how to use, if her memory served.

”Maybe I am.” Valley gave her belt a good rub. ”Let’s just say...if you’re ever near the ring when I’m making the challenge, feel free to come on down, okay?”

For a moment, Emily was silent as she stared Valley down, her eyes drifting from her opponent to the belt that she carried. Valley was a tough customer, no doubt about that, but at the same time, the gauntlet had been thrown. Given how many fellow Wrestle Angels she had taken down-- hell, what she had put Natasha through-- Emily could do nothing but accept. But more to the point, she wanted a chance at that belt, and wanted to put Valley's boasts to the test in the ring.

"Ye make that call, and I'll be there," Emily replied cool, "whatever type of bout ye wish."