Kyo Akamatsu vs. Valley Doll - The Road To Recovery

It wasn’t the most conventional thing Valley could’ve done in this situation, she knew it. There were other options, more tried and true that could’ve gotten her out of this hold, even considering how well Kyo had applied. Yes, it had been a while since she’d done some real chain wrestling, but it was still within her wheelhouse.

But would they work? She didn’t like the chances, considering how well he’d adapted so far. She needed something out of left field, and wouldn’t you know it, her trip fit the bill.

Down they went, and she was free. Not exactly match-ending, but a good start.

The two of them separated and Valley kicked off her shoulders, flipping back and come down on a single knee. She look up just in time to see Kyo already well on his way to matching her height. If she wanted to capitalize, she needed to move in. Now.

Not even bothering to rise all the way, Valley burst out of her crouch and closed in, running hard towards him. The instant she was in range, she leaped off the canvas and shot her legs out, trying to nail him in the chest with a shotgun dropkick - a move that would put him on the canvas, and, if she was lucky, send him out of the ring.

Already, Valley was proving herself to be a canny foe, tripping back and putting them both on the mat to make Kyo release his grip. If Kyo had been able to react quicker, he might have tried to snap his legs around her waist for a body scissor or go for a rear naked choke (or both), but as it was, he'd figured that the smarter thing to do would be to roll away from her and try to anticipate her follow up.

Unfortunately, that follow up was immediate: the moment he looked up, Valley was already flying at him with a kick.

Swearing, he brought both of his arms up across his chest. The movement was a second right on time, as he only barely managed to bring them up between his chest and Valley's boots. The blow, however, was still enough to send a tremor of pain shooting up his arms, and enough to blast him off of his feet.

So this was the power of Valley Doll's kicks, he thought, even as he was sent rolling across the ring. To see it in action was one thing, but to be on the recieving end, even when blocking...

He had the mental acuity to raise an arm and catch it on the middle rope before he went rolling out of the ring. Huffing, he tried to hoist himself up to his feet, knowing now just how fast Valley Doll's recovery time was. If he managed to meet Valley's eyes while doing so, he would give her a wary, respectful glare.

Before, the two had been engaging in good natured warm-up moves against one another. But that last kick had made it abundantly clear: the pleasantries were now over.

Valley could see him raise his guard at the last moment, managing a defense as she leaped for the attack. Annoying, but there was nothing to be done about it now that her feet had locked in and the combination of gravity and momentum was set. A blocked kick was better than no kick at all, she’d take it.

The blow hit with enough force to knock Kyo back, but it was telling that she went straight down after contact, not having any real forward force to spare. She rolled back after the contact and saw him at the ropes, getting up, none the worse for wear. She clicked her teeth, a little annoyed that he didn’t go all the way out so she could nail him with something big from the ring, but that didn’t trouble her too much. Opportunities would arise again, she was sure.

She stood up and rolled her shoulders as she nodded his way, a quick flex before she went into her fighting stance, this time favoring more of a Tae Kwon Do pose. Legs tapping on the floor as she bounced from heel to heel, fist raised and ready as she began to close in.

The two of them were both good at grappling, though she would give him a slight edge - his reach and strength could make the difference the more they fought. But how was he with strikes? That was what she wanted to test next, see if she could find a solid way to press him back.

She moved closer and closer, waiting until she was just shy of range before she bounced in and went on the attack. She threw out a quick roundhouse kick, targeting low and snapping at his shins, before she brought her leg up higher and threw the same kick again, this time going for his ribs. Two fluid motions, fast, though neither was all that forceful.

Kyo was bracing himself as he rolled back to his feet. To his relief, however, Valley wasn't following up on her attack-- not yet. She seemed content to hang back for now, to watch and wait. He saw her give a slight nod to his glare, though, and settle into a posture with her powerful legs spread apart, one clenched fist at her waist and the other extended. A tae kwon do pose, and a deliberate challenge if there ever was one.

Naturally, of course, Kyo had to reciprocate. Hopping back up to his feet, he mirrored Valley's stance, slowly circling her. He was wading into very dangerous territory, he knew, as Valley Doll was probably one of the best strikes in the entire federation. The audience cheered at the tense circling between the two: what had begun feeling like a friendly spar had very quickly turned into a duel between two of the AFW's top competitors.

And then, in a whirlwind of motion, Valley was attacking.

Kyo reacted quickly, barely managing to bring his leg up, managing to block Valley's kick...and then realizing that his shins had been her target all along as he felt stinging pain shoot up his leg. He tried to block her follow up kick, but was short by just a few inches, and winced as her booted foot smacked against his ribs. There hadn't been that much force behind it, but it still stung and left his breathing hard.

He was content to play Valley's game for now, though, as he suddenly surged forward, trying to close the gap between them. He raised a knee, going for a strike on Valley's abdomen...before spinning around at the last second, trying to move out of Valley's line of sight and hammer an elbow back between her shoulder blades...again, not done with too much force, but enough to make her feel the impact, hoping to at the very least make her stumble, before spinning around to sweep a let at her shins.

He was no striker, but he had been practicing quite a bit, and at the very least he was no slouch when it fast-paced moves. He knew he couldn't match Valley at this kind of fighting, but he didn't intend to: he just wanted to lull her into a false sense of security before he put his plan for winning this match into motion...

Valley looked on, curious, as Kyo mirrored her position to a tee, as if he was ready to play her game on her terms. That was an interesting little gamble. She didn’t want to brag, but her kicking skills were well known throughout the league, and while she was certain he wasn’t half bad, she doubted he could keep up, at least when it came to her speciality. He was more than welcome to try, though.

So far, the results weren’t looking too promising for him. Her low kick worked like a charm, landed nice and clean, clearly had an effect going off the look in his eyes. The one she threw up top wasn’t a full success, but it wasn’t a failure, either. A good blow to the ribs, not as deep as she would’ve liked, but palpable. A great start.

She’d thought it would be a good enough deterrent to keep him from moving in, though. In that case, she was very wrong.

He moved in and he moved in fast, closing the distance in a bold move. At first she thought he was going for a kick, looking to challenge her, and she raised her leg to counter - a mistake. That slowed her down, made it hard to dodge the real attack, as he came around to her flank and threw a hard elbow into her back.

Slick, very slick. The move made her stagger forward, but she was quick to spin around and go on the attack again, not wanting to give him a chance to capitalize. The first volley of kicks did well enough, and she wanted to see how a second would fair.

Valley moved in again and swung her leg low, going for an exact copy of the same low kick she’d nailed him with a moment ago. This time, however, she let it come up short, missed...on purpose. She kept spinning after the feint, kept her momentum and used it for her real attack, as she brought her leg up at the end of the turn and tried to hit him in the chest with a spinning heel kick, one that would push him hard into the corner.

Kyo's neat little counter worked, slamming between Valley's shoulders and staggering her...well, for a few seconds, anyway. Not to Kyo's surprise, the Californian phenomenon recovered quickly, spinning around to face him yet again, legs flying.

He was playing a deadly guessing game at this point: a huge part of his plan hinged around intercepting one of Valley's kicks in order to immobilize, ensnare, and damage it...but he was rapidly getting the impression that Valley enjoyed keeping her opponents guessing. Just like me, he thought grimly. Complicating this even further was the fact that he didn't want to telegraph his intentions to Valley: one botched catch of her leg could cause her to realize what he was up to, and then he would be back to square one.

Valley was moving almost too fast to follow, a blur of pink and blonde as she lashed out with a kick. Too late, Kyo realized it was a feint: his arms moved too slow to counter the spinning kick that raked across his chest, propelling him backwards. He gasped from the blow, and gasped even further as his back slammed against the corner post.

Cutting it really close there, Kyo he thought to himself, wincing a little from the impact...

Nailed him.

Valley whistled as her kick landed. It was one of the better ones in her arsenal, but landing it raw was difficult, required her to get some distance and make a distraction. Even with that, there was a chance the samurai would follow her movements and pick out her true intentions, ruining the whole bit. The last thing she wanted was for this man to get a hand on her foot - he’d get her in a submission, no question.

So it was a relief when the blow connected and sent him into the corner, but it wasn’t going to be enough. She needed to keep up the pressure, and that meant she wasn’t stopping - not even for a second.

She came charging his way not long after he hit the ropes and threw herself forwards into a full flip. Her feet came down right in front of him and she jerked forward, slamming her elbow his chest with all the momentum she’d stored up.

Kyo's chest was throbbing with pain: it was early in the match, and Valley had already gotten a good kick in. Not good. Moreover, he was now trapped in the corner, a sitting duck for whatever follow up the Slamazon had in store for him. And, given what he'd seen of Valley Doll's matches, she wouldn't waste time on that follow up.

Come on, kick me again, he thought, looking for an opening for a counter. I dare you.

True enough, Valley was exploding into motion again the moment his back hit the turnbuckle-- a blur of movement that Kyo almost couldn't follow. But he could follow enough to know that she wasn't coming at him with a kick.

Oh. Oh crap.

He tried to move out of the way in time, but was too slow-- Valley's elbow drilled into his chest, and he was slammed against the turnbuckle again, gasping for air now as he slumped against the top ropes. This wasn't good at all: he had let his guard down for a fraction of a second against Valley, and it was already costing him in this match. Damn it, he had to turn this around, and fast...

Valley’s little gamble paid off and paid off big, getting a surprising impact on the Tension tag champ. Perfect execution, solid follow through, really nailed the whole rotation. She couldn’t have asked for better, if she was being honest.

That being said, it wasn’t exactly cause for a celebration, as he was far from finished. Showing off his impressive resistance and stamina, the man stayed standing when many others would’ve fallen. Just another sign that she was making good progress with him, but not enough to put him flat for a three-count. She was liking her chances, though. Just a little more.

”Phew, we’re off to a good start.” She wiped some sweat off her brow, then began to move forward again, closing back on him as he slumped. ”Careful, Kyo, you don’t want to make me look too good.”

With that light hearted little taunt, Valley reached up, took him by the arm, pulled back and sent him running towards the other side of the ring with a strong Irish Whip, wanting to create the most distance between them. As soon as he was sent off, she came running after him at full steam, trailing in his shadow, so she could deliver a surprise the moment he spun around a - flying knee, right to the face.

Kyo was breathing through clenched teeth now after that elbow took him right in the chest. He had been so busy watching out for Valley's legs that he forgot that she had excellent striking power beyond them as well-- a mistake that he was clearly paying for. The match was barely a few minutes old and he was already in trouble. He felt an uncommon surge of humiliated irritation: he was a tag team champion. He was not going to be ragdolled like this.

Calm down, Kyo. Keep your head in the game.

He heard Valley's taunt as she grabbed his arm. "Oh don't worry, I won't," he breathed back, even as Valley whipped him towards the ropes.

The momentum of the throw sent him running across the ring...though as he ran, he heard the unmistakable sound of more bootfalls close behind him. Realizing what was going on as soon as he reached the ropes, he rebounded, and used the momentum of his rebound to throw himself sideways. His instincts correct this time: Valley had been right behind him, a knee extended upwards for what would have been a nasty knee to his midsection...though that knee was now shooting uselessly upwards into the air as he hurled himself to the left.

Even as he dropped, he lashed out, trying to snake one arm around Valley's thigh and another around his waist. If he managed that, then he would throw all of his weight into the drop, hoping to take the wind out of Valley's sails with a surprise back body suplex!