(A/N: Life got really busy, apologies for the delay!)With the matches on the undercard already in the books,
Red, White, & Bruised moved into its championship rounds.
The ring announcer stepped into the spotlight and proclaimed, “
Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is scheduled for one fall and is for the FAWN EurAsian Championship! Introducing first, she is the challenger, hailing from Richmond, England in the United Kingdom, she stands at five feet seven inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and fifteen pounds. She is the Oncoming Storm, this is… OLIVIA DARE!"
Already on their feet in anticipation of this bendy-backed tête-a-tête, the capacity crowd still seemed to jolt into the air when the speakers produced the somnolently aggressive drumbeat of Hooverphonic’s ‘
2Wicky.’ Their throat-born thunder crashed all the louder when the lithesome Englishwoman appeared atop the stage to greet her fans with an index finger raised high overhead.
OLIVIA DARE
Having already notched prodigious reigns with the World and Lightweight titles and now looking to complete a singles hat-trick, Olivia Dare wore a pair of stormy black bikini briefs edged with silver trim and cut high enough to offer the audience a tantalizing view of her sculpted hips, thighs and calves. The other half of her ensemble included a matching bustier, also done in black and edged with silver. Short black wrestling shoes and silver knee and elbow pads rounded out the rest of her outfit. Thusly greeted, the Oncoming Storm started down the aisle, Olivia offering palms and smiles to all those that reached in her general direction. She was almost to the foot of the aisle when she paused to note a sign:
DARE TO BELIEVE: TRIPLE CROWN CHAMPION“Oh, I do indeed,” the Englishwoman said with a smile and a wink before she continued on her way to the ring.
Olivia strode up the steps, glided out onto the apron and set her back to the strands. Gifting the whole of the arena with a grin as she draped her arms over the top rope, Olivia dipped her knees and tumbled backward to land on her feet as her anthem reached a crescendo.
“Drew the short straw again, Merle?” Dare greeted as FAWN’s junior referee set about checking her wrists, elbows, and knees. “I imagine not even a masochist would volunteer to officiate a Yoona Park match.”
A wordless, defeated sigh from the man told Olivia all she needed to know, and she settled into a corner as her entrance theme faded from the speakers.
Meanwhile, Yoona Park had taken her place at the gorilla position, and she watched the lowlights of the penthouse brawl between Kanako Akiyama and Lydia Lethbridge on an auxiliary monitor. Unlike previous months, Camille Cosworth was not present to accompany her for a title defense, opting instead to provide moral support to Kanako at the Madhouse in the wake of a gut-wrenching loss.
“Akiyama, you stubborn motherfucker…” Park grumbled to herself, slamming a fist into the concrete wall just as the announcer called her to the ring.
“
And introducing your FAWN EurAsian champion... coming in at five foot seven and one hundred twenty eight pounds… hailing from Seoul, South Korea… Yoona Park!”
Heavy orchestral strings started up immediately, though on this particular night Yoona was in no mood to wait for the beat to drop on the symphonic cover of the
Pacific Rim theme that served as her championship anthem. Hefting the EurAsian title belt over one shoulder and brushing aside the curtain with one swipe of the opposite arm, Park stalked down the ramp with none of the usual swagger in her step, still disgruntled over events earlier in the evening.
YOONA PARK
Nevertheless, the fans in Park Place did their part to urge her on towards a rematch with the woman who had bested her nearly two years ago in a match that announced her arrival to FAWN’s main roster. The pair had clashed again and again on practice mats and in sparring rings in the time since, and now under the bright lights of the FAWN Arena and with much more at stake than bragging rights and a pint of beer, the air practically crackled with electricity. In spite of the recent trials and tribulations, Yoona couldn’t help but crack a lopsided grin as she made her way onto the apron and through the ropes.
Finally, she had a challenger she deemed worthwhile.
“Sorry I’m late, bruv,” Yoona called to Olivia, casually tossing her title belt to a ring attendant before settling into a corner to allow Merle to inspect her black-and-gold trimmed bustier, elbow-length gauntlets, and leg sleeves. “Woulda been here a month ago but I had to wash my hair.”
Dare shook her head at the blatant lie and chuckled, “How’s Camille these days?”
“Better,” Park acknowledged with a single nod before she strode towards the center of the ring. “Well then, let’s get this show on the road. I got places to go and people to kill…”
Rather than meet her foe head-on, Olivia held up a hand then reached into her top to retrieve a folded piece of paper.
“The brass were not pleased with you no-showing last month’s title defense at the last minute, Park. I sympathize with the fact that you had to…
wash your hair... but I admit that I, too, was quite
vexed at being made to wait. Thus when the powers-that-be allowed me a stipulation of choice for the evening, I was rather keen to take them up on their offer,” Dare said, her voice cool and crisp and confident as she handed the slip of paper to the official. “Sir, if you would do the honors…”
Merle scanned the contents of the letter, and once he saw the signature and seal of FAWN CEO Bethany Christian at the bottom, he flashed the Englishwoman a thumbs-up and passed the paper along to the ring announcer.
“
Ladies and gentlemen, the following contest is now an Iron Woman match with a thirty minute limit, and is for the FAWN EurAsian championship!” the man proclaimed to raucous approval from the assembled audience.
Seeing Yoona roll her eyes and scoff, Olivia offered, “If it’s any consolation, Bethany rejected my initial choice of
Breast Smother Match.”
For a few seconds, the pair of wrestlers were stone-faced and silent, but then as if following some cue invisible to anyone else, each woman burst into hysterical laughter, Park doubled over at the waist with arms swaddled around her gut and Dare leaned against a set of turnbuckles for support. Merle was not privy to whatever inside joke was shared between his two charges, and after glancing back and forth between champion and challenger, he offered his unsolicited and unwelcome opinion.
“That was the right choice, I think. I mean, no offense, but neither of you are built for that sort of thing,” he said sagely while cupping his hands in the air in front of his own chest.
Just like that, the laughter stopped as abruptly as it had began. Olivia stared at the man and shook her head in stern disapproval, while Park planted her fists on her hips, tilted her head towards the ceiling, and let out an exasperated sigh.
“Come here, Merle,” the Korean said blandly, beckoning the official over with a couple of tilts of her head.
Junior referee or not, one glance was all it took to tell him that Park had ill intentions, so Merle protested, “I’d rather not, you look like you’re going to hit me…”
“What?!” Yoona snapped. “What the hell does that mean?!”
“It means you look like you’re going to hit me!”
“Dude, I’m not going to fucking hit you! Now get your ass over here!” she demanded once more, stomping her foot for emphasis.
Merle looked towards Olivia for help, receiving nothing more than a disinterested shrug from the rangy blonde. Still not entirely trusting of the champion, he shuffled his way over inch by inch and sideways, left arm halfway raised as if he sincerely believed he might intercept a blow from one of the federation’s most prolific strikers. Given his cautious pace, it took the better part of a minute to close the five foot gap between himself and Yoona, and now the two of them stood shoulder-to-shoulder.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve talked, Merle,” Park said, suddenly sounding pleasant and placid. “How are the wife and kids these days?”
The referee’s face twisted in confusion.
“I -- I don’t have a wife and -- OWWW!” he screeched when Yoona cuffed him hard on the side of his head. “You said you wouldn’t hit me!”
“
I LIED, DICK-HOLE!” the Korean screamed, spraying his face with spittle. “NOW MOVE YOUR ASS AND START THE MATCH!”
Red-faced and sputtering, the referee looked towards Dare for help once more, though this time the Englishwoman chuffed, “Quite honestly, sir, you deserved that. Now, if you please, the entire building is waiting for you to get things underway.”
With no sympathy to be found, Merle grumbled to himself about unionization and demanding more protection for FAWN’s oft-abused referees, then he signaled for the timekeeper to ring the bell and officially start the clock. The production team quickly put up a timer on the FAWNtron counting down from ‘30:00’ along with ‘Park: 0’ and ‘Dare: 0’ and the capacity crowd roared to life as the two battlers approached the center of the squared circle.
“We still gonna be friends after I dust you ten-zip?” Yoona said while cracking her knuckles on one hand and then the other.
“Who says we’re friends now?” Olivia promptly replied, a competitive smile gracing her features.
“Aww, c’mon, we’re at least frenemies, right? The kind that try to kill each other during the work-week and then race go-karts together every Sunday…” Park shrugged while adopting a much more casual posture. “You know, like Mario and Bowser. Or Mario and Donkey Kong. Or Mario and Wario. Or Mario and --”
Evidently not interested in hearing the champion recite half the roster of
Mario Kart, the Oncoming Storm surged forward and swept the Korean wrestler into a brawny Elbow and Collar tie-up which belied her lithe frame. Momentum forced Yoona back a couple of steps before she regained her footing, then she linked her right arm with Olivia’s and threw herself to the mat with a tight barrel roll.
Even as she was sent tumbling by the Arm Drag, Dare maintained the wherewithal to slip her arm free in midair to prevent a follow-up joint-lock attempt after the takedown. Doing so also provided her with an extra hand with which to break her fall, and after smoothly rolling over her left shoulder to further reduce the force of the impact, she clambered back to her feet just a split second after her opponent.
That slimmest of margins was still enough for Yoona to seize the initiative, and the Slim Reaper showed that she was not taking her foe lightly by leaping forward into a Superman Punch that would have smashed the challenger’s jaw. Olivia would not be so easily had though, and she evaded the crushing blow at the last second, first ducking under the champion’s swinging fist and then pivoting on her heels to take the brunette’s back after the whiffed connection. She wrapped her arms around the ex-ballerina’s midsection in a snug Waistlock, then Dare popped her hips to throw Park up, over, and back with a breathtaking Release German Suplex.
Yoona had apparently acquired some of her girlfriend’s penchant for acrobatic frippery, however, and as she hurtled through the air she tucked her knees for a bit of extra rotational inertia. Impressed murmurs rippled through the crowd when the Slim Reaper landed on her feet rather than the back of her skull, and with the challenger just now getting to one knee, Park took one big step forward with her left leg while whipping her right into a collision course with the side of Dare’s head.
BACKFLIP SUPLEX ESCAPE:www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSvbPLUOTHYOlivia’s finely-honed ring sense meant she had instinctively spun about one-hundred eighty degrees as she rose from the mat to maintain sight of her opponent, and that provided her with crucial milliseconds with which to avoid the murderous Buzzsaw Kick. Where a lesser wrestler might have raised an arm in an ineffective block that would have provided little protection against the blow, Dare instead opted for evasion. She threw herself to the mat and deftly tumbled underneath Park’s kick, and then presented with the champion’s unguarded back for the second time in maybe five seconds, Olivia threaded an arm between Yoona’s thighs and rolled the Korean to the canvas in a Schoolboy Pin.
Unbalanced and caught by surprise, Yoona wildly bicycled her legs in the air, managing to shake Olivia off of her upturned haunches just a heartbeat after Merle had dropped to the mat and counted out…
ONE!
TWO!
THREE!
Park sprang to her feet and spun about to get eyes on the FAWNtron, and to her rueful dismay, the scoreboard confirmed that Dare had gotten the first fall of the match. From the other side of the ring, Olivia gave her a rather self-satisfied wink.
“Congratulations, English. You played yourself...” Park disdainfully snorted. “Betcha wish you didn’t make that Iron Woman stip now, huh?”
“Quite the contrary, my dear,” Dare answered. “Titles will come and go, but the satisfaction of running up the score on a vulgar, foul-mouthed slattern? That lives forever.”
Yoona scoffed, “You probably meant that as an insult, but you know who else was a slattern…? The first ever Category Five Kaiju! So joke’s on you, dipshit, ‘cause slatterns are fuckin’ awesome!”
“Oh, shut up and fight…” Olivia muttered as the pair of wrestlers rushed forward to clash in the middle of the ring.
Park didn’t let her opponent tie her up this time as she came in with fists flying. Dare tilted her head to one side and then the other to dodge a pair of rapid-fire jabs, then she tucked her chin and turned her body to block a Right Hook off her left shoulder. Then the Oncoming Storm shifted from defense to offense in an instant, uncoiling the tension in her torso to twist back the other way while swinging her right arm in an arc that would have sent her bicep crashing into the point of the champion’s chin.
Yoona had no desire for a taste of arguably FAWN’s most vicious European Uppercut, so she brought up her left arm over and down in a swim-stroke, meeting forearm against forearm to parry Olivia’s strike. She followed through with the motion and spun herself in a tight pirouette that ended with a Spinning Back Elbow aimed at the blonde’s temple. Having done this dance numerous times in sparring, Dare knew to stoop down and bow her head to duck underneath the bony joint. Olivia also knew the Thai Plum was coming, thus she didn’t panic when she felt Yoona’s hands clasp around the back of her neck, instead cooly bringing her free hands in front of her face to swat away what was surely to be the first of many Knee Strikes.
It was here, however, that her best laid plans went awry.
The barrage of Knee Strikes that had been a staple of Park’s offense since Day One never came. The Korean wrestler merely pushed Dare down another handful of inches, then she hopped over her stooped-over opponent like she were playing Leapfrog. She didn’t clear the Englishwoman entirely, nor did she intend to, coming to a rest sitting atop the other wrestler’s shoulderblades. Park took a moment to gather herself and regain her balance, then in one smooth motion, she violently threw herself into a Front Flip while hooking her calves under Dare’s armpits to pull the challenger along for the ride.
Both women twirled through the air before slamming down on the canvas, Yoona landing on her rump and Olivia on the back of her neck and shoulders. Discombobulated by the surprisingly crisp Yoshi Tonic from an opponent who had previously shown no aptitude for such maneuvers, Dare laid on her back and stared blankly at the arena lights as the referee slid down to the deck and slapped…
ONE!
TWO!
THREE!
YOSHI TONIC:www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8spxocBk3QJust like that, the scoreboard read ‘Park:1 Dare:1’ much to the delight of the FAWNatics who had taken up permanent residence in Park Place. Satisfied with leveling the count, Yoona pranced away to the far corner and allowed Olivia to regain her bearings for their next clash.
“I suppose we’re even now,” the blonde said through a bemused smirk as she stood up and shook her head. “Consider me mildly surprised that you managed to do something I haven’t seen you do before.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Yoona chortled. “You also haven’t seen me clip my nails, ride a twelve inch strap-on, or discover the cure for cancer, but I did two of those things before I even got out of bed this morning!”
Dare’s face twisted into an expression of disgust.
“What kind of sick, slovenly savage clips her nails in bed?”
“Bruv, why’d you assume I clipped my nails, huh?” Park retorted with mock indignation. “Why couldn’t it have been the other two things?”
Despite her best efforts, Olivia couldn’t quite resist the urge to roll her eyes. In the brief moments that her vision was obscured by the inside of her own skull, Yoona closed the gap with two long strides and sent her reeling backwards with a Push Kick to the stomach. Dare rebounded off the steel cables behind her and staggered right into Park’s grasps. Already down on one knee, the Korean pulled her opponent across her shoulders into a neat Fireman’s Carry, then without rising to a stand, she dipped to one side and pinned the challenger to the deck with a sort of low-altitude Death Valley Driver.
Whatever the move lacked in power it made up for with control, and the Slim Reaper was able to maintain her hooks on Olivia even as Dare’s shoulders were pressed flat against the mat for the second time in half a minute. Merle dropped down again to count…
ONE!
TWO!
...but this time the Oncoming Storm broke free with plenty of time to spare, powering her way out of the champion’s grasps and rolling to a corner before regaining her feet. Olivia waggled a disapproving finger at Yoona as the ex-ballerina casually stood up in the center of the ring.
FIREMAN’S CARRY PIN:www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcs3xc7p3qI“Trying to sneak a second one by me, Park?” Dare said, making a
tut-tut noise with her tongue.
“Yeah, well, someone once said something about running up the score on slatterns…” Yoona replied.
“Ha, ha, very funny…” the Englishwoman muttered. “Now are you going to keep making jokes, or are you going to show me why they call you ‘
Reaper?’”
“They call me ‘
Reaper’ ‘cause it --”
“I know…
I know…” Olivia sighed, having heard this particular schtick more times than she cared to remember. “...because it rhymes with ‘
Yoona.’”
An exaggerated look of befuddlement came over Park’s face.
“
What?! No, it doesn’t!” she huffed. “Jesus Fucking Christ, ‘Liv, where the hell did you learn English?!”
Dare closed her eyes and slowly counted to five in her head, then she spoke tersely through her gritted teeth, “I never thought anyone could be more of a troll than Sanders, and yet wonder of wonders, here you are…”
The champion gave a disdainful snort and the challenger answered with a mirthless chuckle, then a beat later they were locked up in the center of the ring once more, pushing and grinding against each other in another Elbow and Collar tie-up. Outweighing her opponent by more than a dozen pounds, Yoona leaned against Olivia and let gravity do the hard work, eventually stuffing the Englishwoman against a set of turnbuckles. With the Oncoming Storm cornered, Park broke free of their mutual grasp and chambered her right arm for an Elbow Smash to the jaw.
Perhaps Yoona had gotten ahead of herself, however, because as soon as she reared back, Olivia sprang forward. Caught wrong-footed this time, Park didn’t have a slick counter for the European Uppercut that Dare
clacked off her chin. Olivia promptly grabbed her stunned opponent by the sides of the neck and spun about to roughly toss the Korean into the corner, a reversal of their positions just a few seconds ago. She mounted the middle ropes and rained fists down upon the champion’s forehead, but when the Slim Reaper managed to mostly block or slip the first half-dozen shots, Olivia decided to try a new tactic.
She clasped her hands around the back of Yoona’s neck, though rather than try to land a barrage of knees, she dropped back down to the mat -- rolling first to her rump and then her shoulders while planting her knees in Park’s stomach to fling the Korean out of the corner with a Monkey Flip. Yoona hit the deck with a
WHAM before bouncing back to her feet, staggering and disoriented. Unfortunately for the champion, Olivia was faster still, and as soon as Park turned around she was met by a pair of boot-heels
THWACKING into her chest.
MONKEY FLIP AND DROPKICK:www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlIAV8slmYAThe force of the Dropkick launched Yoona into the corner opposite from where she started just moments ago. She banged her spine against the turnbuckles and rebounded towards the center of the ring, making it three steps before she flopped on her face. Olivia promptly flipped her onto her back, laid across her chest, and hooked her right leg for the…
ONE!
TWO!
THR -- NO!
... before Yoona punched an arm into the air and lifted a shoulder off the mat to keep the score tied at one apiece. Dare gave a couple of curt nods to no one in particular, partly as a way of acknowledging the referee’s count and partly in recognition of the fact that there were no more easy falls to be had in the match. Olivia hauled Park upright by her elaborate French Braid and stuffed her head under one arm in a tight Front Facelock. Yoona fought her the whole way, however -- doggedly pushing and twisting and thrashing against the challenger’s grasps -- thus forcing Olivia to constantly shift her stance to maintain balance and control and preventing the Englishwoman from getting her feet set for a Suplex or a DDT.
After about half a minute of struggle, Park’s bare soles found purchase against the canvas before her opponent’s boot leather. The ex-ballerina dipped her knees, drove forward a step and a half while wrapping her arms around the blonde’s waist, then bridged backwards to slam Dare to the mat with a crisp Northern Lights Suplex.
NORTHERN LIGHTS SUPLEX:www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvQPd3nU5ekYoona pushed onto her toes and arched her back a little further to get as much leverage as she could, and a split second later, Merle was on the deck once more to pound out…
ONE!
TWO!
...before Olivia rolled to one side, breaking the pin and sending both wrestlers tumbling to the thinly-sheathed plywood. Blonde and brunette ended up on opposite sides of the ring, each wrestler warily eyeing the other as she slowly rose to a stand.
“You’ve come a long way, luv,” Olivia quietly said, and the corners of Yoona’s mouth pulled back into a wry smile that almost looked genuine. “There is now but a hair’s width between us, and yet... I fear it is all for naught. I remain as unreachable as the stars.”
“Fuck you, ‘Liv!” Park retorted through a cocksure grin. “You think this here’s a goddamn community theater production of
Pride and Prejudice and Piledrivers?! Talk like a normal person!”
“Get on my level, twat.”
“...
perfect.”
With that, the Slim Reaper stormed forward and closed the distance in one big stride. She leapt into a V-Trigger, throwing her left knee followed by her right in rapid succession at Dare’s face. Olivia dodged the first blow to the side and batted away the second with a clubbing forearm, then she counter-attacked with a kick to Park’s knee which was immediately blocked by a raised shin. A short, stubby uppercut to the solar plexus found its mark and earned a harsh grunt from the Korean, though in planting her feet to throw her punch Olivia had left her lower body unguarded.
Even as she recoiled from the impact of the gutshot, Yoona lashed out with a bruising kick to the inside of the challenger’s right thigh, perhaps a hands-length above the knee. The sting of the strike gave Dare just enough pause for Park to grab the front of her top with one hand, then the Slim Reaper reeled her in with a sharp, forceful tug and smashed a savage Headbutt right between her eyes.
Suddenly seeing stars, Olivia couldn’t do much to stop Yoona from hooking an arm around her neck and then pounding fist after fist into the side of her ribs. A quartet of heavy blows landed in half as many seconds before Dare regained enough of her wherewithal to stop a fifth by desperately clasping both hands around the champion’s right forearm, though Park simply resumed tenderizing Olivia’s thighs with Knee Strike after Knee Strike as the pair of wrestlers remained locked together in the center of the ring.
Recognizing her dangerous and deteriorating situation, the Englishwoman braced her legs on the canvas despite the withering barrage and gave Yoona’s arm a hard pull, hoping to get herself some breathing room by sending the Slim Reaper sprinting away with an Irish Whip. No such luck for Olivia, however, as Yoona managed to drop anchor after just a few steps before reversing the Whip via their still-interlocked arms. Unable to slam on the brakes with her battered legs still numb, Dare hit the ropes and rebounded back into the Slim Reaper’s waiting arms. Yoona deftly slid one hand between Olivia’s thighs and used the challenger’s wayward momentum to scoop her into the air, pivot on one heel, and drive her to the deck in a single easy motion.
SNAP POWERSLAM:www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9-JN641ZxYAlready in perfect pinning position with a leg hooked at the conclusion of her Snap Powerslam, Yoona nodded along with the official as he slapped the mat...
ONE!
TWO!
THR -- NO!
...and Olivia got her left shoulder up with a fraction of a second to spare by twisting and turning towards Park, albeit not forcefully enough to dislodge the Korean. Instead of arguing the call with Merle, Yoona shifted her position to get her haunches positioned over her shins in a kneeling Side Mount position, then she raised her left leg up and back before powering it forward into a Knee Strike aimed at her opponent’s head.
With her right arm still pinned underneath Park’s body, Dare threw her left forearm across her face to ward off the blow. Yoona smashed right through the feeble effort though, hitting again and again and again with her Side Mounted Knees to loud groans of sympathetic pain from the collective crowd. Finally, after a half dozen strikes to progressively less resistance from the challenger, Yoona flattened herself out for another pin, and this time there was little drama or doubt when Merle counted…
ONE!
TWO!
THREE!
The ex-ballerina shifted to straddle her opponent’s stomach, then she leaned forward and planted a kiss on Dare’s bloodied lips before getting to her feet. Nodding with satisfaction as she glanced up at the scoreboard, she mounted a set of turnbuckles, slammed both fists into her chest, and wordlessly bellowed in triumph towards the audience. The denizens of Park Place were still echoing her victory roar when Yoona dismounted and turned towards Olivia, the Englishwoman upright but leaning heavily against the ropes while being checked by the referee.
Dare took a few more seconds to re-gather her bearings after having her cage rattled, allowing the other wrestler to pace about on the other side of the ring. She checked her mouth for missing teeth and was inwardly relieved to find all thirty-two pearly whites present and accounted for, then she spat some bloody phlegm on the ring apron and wiped her mouth on the back of her wrist. Once the ringing in her ears stopped and her legs felt more steady underneath her, Olivia raised her fists in front of her face and cautiously advanced towards her opponent.
“Throwing hands with the Reaper after you just got your ass kicked?” Yoona chuffed, getting no more than a hard glare in return from the Oncoming Storm. “That’s a bold move, Cotton. Let’s see if it pays off.”
Flippant as her words might have been, Park’s actions were deadly serious. As soon as her challenger was within range of her legs, she whipped a low and lightning-quick Roundhouse at the blonde’s flank. Olivia made no move to block or evade, instead choosing to sacrifice her body in order to trap the limb under her right arm after it smashed into the side of her ribs.
Yoona’s eyes widened in surprise, then a moment later she found herself unbalanced and reeling when Dare stepped forward and gave her a one-handed shove to the sternum. Hopping about on one foot and flailing her arms, she instinctively leaned in and clasped the Englishwoman’s shoulders for support. That was just the reaction Olivia had expected, and she capitalized on her gamble by snaring Park in another Front Facelock.
Now holding Yoona’s neck and left leg under each of her armpits, Dare dragged the both of them to the center of the ring with little resistance unlike a few minutes ago. She took a single deep breath to gather herself, then she crouched down while slinging Park’s trapped leg over the back of her neck. Grunting with exertion, Olivia stood up straight to lift Yoona up high and laid out on the mat to bring her down hard with a booming Quartermass Buster.
QUATERMASS BUSTER @ 00:11www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJmbvMc0N_4The Korean curled into a ball with her arms protectively curled around her skull after the nasty head drop, though she wasn’t that way for long before Dare flattened her out and laid across her chest for…
ONE!
TWO!
THR -- NO!
A slight shiver brought Yoona’s shoulders off the mat just in time to beat Merle’s count and preserve her lead. Olivia looked a bit exasperated when she held up three fingers at the official and only received two in response, though she didn’t dawdle any further before she dragged the dazed brunette to the center of the ring by an arm and a leg. The Oncoming Storm went back to the well and draped Park’s left knee over her neck just as she had done moments ago, flipping Yoona face-down in the process. Rather than another try at her Quartermass Buster, everyone in the building knew that Dare was attempting to secure her Oli-viaticum Stretch Muffler, evidently going for a submission after failing to get a pinfall.
Regardless of the concussive haze clouding her senses, Yoona realized her precarious situation as well. She propped herself up on her hands and right leg, scrabbling hard against the canvas to claw her way to the ropes even as Olivia wrenched on her left leg. A desperate lunge allowed her to wrap one palm around the bottom rope at the cost of an ungainly belly-flop to the deck, then she promptly demanded that Merle enforce a rope break. The challenger released the hold under the referee’s orders, though perhaps not in the way that Yoona would have preferred when she hoisted the Korean’s trapped leg high into the air by the ankle before driving it down into the mat.
Prodigious flexibility or not, the impact of her kneecap bouncing off the deck made Park yelp in pain. She hauled herself out onto the ring apron and rubbed at the tender joint, relying on the official to keep the Oncoming Storm at bay for the time being. Olivia wasn’t going to give her a longer reprieve than afforded by the letter of the law, however, so the Englishwoman sprang back into action the moment that Merle’s five-count reached its limit.
Yoona was still on the apron, now standing on one leg while trying to flex the stiffness out of the other and seemingly unaware of the Superkick that was now rocketing towards her face. She was likely playing possum though, because her hands shot up just in time to catch Olivia’s right foot inches away from her chin, an action that might have shattered her wrists were it not for her protective gauntlets. The Slim Reaper gave her opponent a quick tilt of her head and a cock of her eyebrow, then she hopped backwards off the apron with the captured limb in tow.
The middle of Dare’s thigh came down hard across the top rope and rebounded back, jerking her foot out of Park’s grasps and sending her flopping to the mat with a howl of anguish. Merle was kneeling down next to his charge in an instant, checking her condition and grimacing when he saw the ugly bruise that ran from hamstring to groin.
“Christ, that looks bad, Olivia. Are you okay to continue?” the man quietly muttered as he gently prodded the back of her thigh and drew an agitated gasp from the wrestler.
“DON’T…
do that…” Dare hissed through gritted teeth, causing the referee to sharply recoil.
A couple of seconds later, she recovered her stiff upper lip and tersely added, “...and I assure you I remain more than capable of finishing --
and winning -- this contest.”
“You good to go, bruv?” Yoona called from the floor as she paced back and forth with arms folded behind her back. “Or do I have time to sit out here butter my muffin while you get your shit together?”
Olivia brushed the official aside and pounded a fist into the mat, rising first to one knee and then fully to her feet despite the protests of her right leg.
“No quarter, Park. None asked.
None given.”
Upon hearing that, the Slim Reaper sank into a crouch and leapt from floor to apron in a single bound, flaunting the fact that she had remained relatively unscathed thus far in the match. She stepped through the ropes without a word and immediately went back on the offensive, driving a lowered shoulder into Dare’s hips and powering the both of them to the deck with a Double Leg Takedown that might as well have been a Spear. Now sitting on her haunches in Olivia’s guard, Yoona reared back as if to drop Hammerfists and Dare accordingly threw up a guard with both arms. Doing so left Olivia open elsewhere, so rather than trying to pound through her defenses, Park popped up to a stand while snaring her wounded right leg by the ankle.
Whatever the Korean might have had in mind would remain a mystery, however, because the Oncoming Storm lashed out with her left leg and booted Yoona square in the solar plexus. Park backed away with a loud grunt, both arms swaddled around her midsection, and Dare was back on her feet in a flash. Her fans roared to life as Olivia lunged forward with her right arm chambered for another European Uppercut, but to the dismay of supporters of the bendy-backed Briton, the resurgence was extinguished as abruptly as it had begun.
While Dare’s leg slowed her down by mere fractions of a second, that razor-thin margin was just enough for the Slim Reaper to catch her arm and take her back down to the mat with an over-the-shoulder Judo toss. Their right arms still interlocked, Yoona knelt behind her seated opponent and trapped Olivia’s neck and chin under her left armpit to lock in the Basement Dragon Sleeper.
BASEMENT DRAGON SLEEPER:www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXmpgvhybBkDare immediately began clawing and prying at Park’s elbow and bicep with her left hand while kicking her heels against the canvas, and when that didn’t yield any progress after a half dozen seconds, she blindly and angrily waved at where she thought the official would be to preempt the man from asking if she wanted to call it quits. With Merle giving her the benefit of the doubt for now, Olivia started driving her left elbow backwards, digging the bony joint into Yoona’s ribs over and over again. She didn’t have the leverage to put real power into her blows, although from the irritated growl in the back of the Korean’s throat, she was succeeding in being a nuisance.
Still it was patently clear that the challenger’s consciousness was fading faster than the champion’s patience, and not wanting to concede a daunting three to one lead, Olivia knew she had to find another way out. She planted her feet flat against the canvas, and from there she poured every last ounce of her dwindling strength into bridging her way upwards -- first her hips, then her abdomen, then her shoulders in a slow, sinuous motion. The Herculean effort exacted a terrible toll on her body, especially her right leg, but after another fifteen seconds or so, Olivia had managed to make it mostly upright, even dragging Yoona’s weight along with her and forcing the Korean to stand.
“You fuckin’ believe this, Merle?” Park chuckled to the referee as she continued to work the Dragon Sleeper. “This is some Hollywood ‘
heart of a champion’ shit right here…”
“Olivia’s one of the all time greats,” Merle affirmed. “Honestly, she belongs on the cover of a Wheaties box, or whatever’s the equivalent of a Wheaties box on the other side of the -- JESUS CHRIST, YOONA!”
Unmoved by the referee’s gushing over the Oncoming Storm, Yoona suddenly released the Dragon Sleeper in favor of pivoting in a half circle and slamming a brutal Elbow Drop into Olivia’s exposed throat. Park rode her the whole way down to the mat, subjecting Dare to a second nasty collision as the back of her skull bounced off the deck after the initial impact of the Guillotine Elbow.
GUILLOTINE ELBOW:www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Q10fthsgQ“Sorry, bruv,” Yoona said as she casually laid an arm across Olivia’s chest for the pin. “It ain’t that kinda movie.”
Looking just a bit livid, Merle slid down to the deck and counted while Park held up her left hand and raised…
ONE
TWO
THREE
...fingers before popping to her feet just as the FAWNtron updated to reflect her commanding three-to-one lead.
Apparently Dare’s championship pedigree afforded her a degree of professional courtesy not extended to previous challengers. Yoona eschewed any further taunting or needling in favor slipping out of the ring and climbing atop the announcer’s table, standing astride her EurAsian championship belt and looming large over FAWN’s broadcast crew of Gordy Solis and Joanna Coleman. Park closed her eyes and stretched her arms out to her sides as she silently basked in the raucous validation from tens of thousands of screaming FAWNatics. Feeling on top of the world, she would have stayed there until the end of the match were it not for her opponent calling her back to the fray just a short while later.
“If your muffin is sufficiently buttered, I believe you still have a match to wrestle,” Olivia said, sounding raspy and looking haggard while somehow still retaining her aristocratic cool and determination.
Park hopped off the table and turned towards her challenger with a disdainful snort, “Okay, wow, you clearly have no idea what that means…”
“Jilling off. Having a wank. Flicking your bean. Rowing the pink canoe. Driving Miss Daisy. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera…” the Englishwoman casually rattled off as her opponent slid back into the ring with a few earnest chuckles.
“My God, you are so fucking British,” Yoona chortled just as the pair of wrestlers engaged in a mutual Muay Thai clinch at the center of the squared circle.
The champion struck first, feigning with her right leg before planting that foot back down on the mat, shifting her weight, and clobbering Olivia’s taut abdomen with a Knee Strike from the opposite leg -- all in the span of a single heartbeat. Dare grunted hard but didn’t yield any ground, then she immediately fired back with a blast of her own, forgoing any trickery to directly power her right knee forwards and upwards at Park’s navel.
She was just a fraction of a second too slow, however, and Yoona stopped her retaliatory Knee Strike by planting a foot atop her boot and stepping down to force that leg back down to the mat before the blow could make contact. With Olivia’s right foot pinned underneath her left, the Slim Reaper used her right leg to further batter the challenger with a rapid-fire barrage of Knee Strikes, the first four landing deep in the solar plexus and the fifth hitting the inside of Dare’s wounded right thigh.
Supporters of the Englishwoman groaned as she sank to her haunches while gasping and clutching at the increasingly ugly bruise on her leg, the Oncoming Storm seemingly quelled. Yoona took a quick half-lap around the ring, giving a couple of silent nods towards the fans in Park Place. She circled behind Olivia and dragged the challenger up by the right arm, then she trapped that limb under her left armpit while hooking her left knee over Olivia’s flexed left thigh to secure the Abdominal Stretch.
Dare immediately tried to throw her captor off of herself with a Hip Toss, but Park sank into a deep crouch to force her down and down and down and down until she was in an awkward squat with her knees bent at ninety degrees. Having taken away any semblance of leverage from her opponent, the Slim Reaper used her teeth to pull the gauntlet off her right arm, then she ran her bare palm over Olivia’s sculpted abdominal muscles.
“Mmmmm… these are so nice…” Yoona purred as she gently and repeatedly caressed the Englishwoman from hip to chest.
“Quit playing games,” Dare spat back, not at all amused by her opponent’s fondling. “If you’re nnnnnNNNNRRRRGGGGGAAARRRGGGHHH!”
The champion suddenly clenched her right hand into a claw, gouging her fingertips deep into the challenger’s midsection. When the Belly Claw only produced a low, anguished groan, Yoona twisted her wrist as if she were unscrewing a particularly obstinate jar, and that finally got a full-throated wail from the Oncoming Storm. Despite screaming at the top of her lungs and feeling like she might soon be eviscerated, Olivia resolutely shook her head when Merle hunched down in front of her and asked her submission. She saw that there was just under a dozen minutes left in the match, and surrendering another fall when she was already down three-to-one would make a comeback all but impossible.
Of course, Park knew the same, thus she did her best to pile on as much punishment as she could in order to further extend her lead. She squeezed until her knuckles turned white, digging in with her nails and twisting in one direction followed by the other like she wanted to tear a pound of flesh from the Englishwoman’s frame. Eventually it was the muscles in her hand that gave out first, the Korean’s fingers spasming and cramping from the fatigue. A low growl rumbled in the back of her throat when she looked at the FAWNtron and saw that there were now ten minutes remaining.
“Tell me, ‘Liv, how long did it take the last time you submitted to my Abdominal Stretch?” Yoona casually mused while she shook the lactic acid out of her right hand.
“I’ve n -- never… never submitted to your Abdominal Stretch…” Olivia groaned in response, even though the prospect seemed more and more likely by the second. “...and I never will.”
Park scoffed, “You know, I could just hold you here and run out the clock, but that sounded like a fucking
challenge…”
With that said, Yoona clasped both of her hands together behind Olivia’s neck, then she used her improved grip to viciously wrench Dare’s entire torso up and down and up and down in a bid to either earn a submission or rip the challenger in half at the waist.
WRENCHING ABDOMINAL STRETCH:www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E9oxU_P0aMOlivia screamed the whole way through more than a dozen jounces before the bucking ride came to a stop while Park caught a breather and prepared for a second round. As much as she hated to admit it, Dare knew she couldn’t survive much more of that, so she reached down with her free left arm as far as she could in a desperate grab for Yoona’s left foot. She nearly dislocated her own shoulder with the effort, but Olivia managed to hook a couple of fingers under the thin stirrup at the bottom of Park’s leg sleeve just as tortuous jolting resumed.
Dare felt the submissive scream at the tip of her tongue, so she bit into it
hard. The coppery taste of her own blood focused her mind and steeled her resolve, and with a few more seconds of fumbling, she pulled away the strip of cloth protecting the arch of Yoona’s foot and drilled her fingers into the pressure points. The wrenching and shaking abruptly stopped, and now it was the champion who was screeching in pain, and within seconds it became clear that Yoona was approaching her pain tolerance much more quickly than Olivia.
Park unhooked her left leg to get her foot out of her opponent’s grasps, then she shoved Dare to the mat and staggered towards the ropes on her scorched sole. Any other time, the Oncoming Storm might have stayed down to recover, but facing a daunting deficit with not much time left, she mentally tuned out her various aches and pains, clambered to her feet, and promptly went on the counterattack. Grabbing her limping opponent from behind, Olivia seized Yoona’s left ankle and folded calf against thigh, then she vaulted the Korean into the air before dropping the ex-ballerina into a jarring shin-first landing across her posted knee. Working with the recoil of the Shinbreaker, Dare popped to full height to lift Park high into the air for a second time, then the Englishwoman laid out on the mat to slam Yoona to the deck with a Belly-to-Back Suplex.
SHINBREAKER AND BELLY-TO-BACK SUPLEX:www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGXNiiqTB2sThe champion bounced once from the impact, flipping head over heels and landing on her knees. Hands planted atop her thighs, she fought her way semi-upright, but her opponent was quicker still. With Yoona dazed and bent over at the waist, Olivia charged her head-on before somersaulting over her and looping both arms around her waist. The Sunset Flip brought both wrestlers to the mat with Park flat on her back between Dare’s outstretched legs, and Yoona immediately rolled a shoulder off the mat before Merle could even get down and start counting. Olivia had never intended to go for another quick pin, however, and that became painfully evident when she wrapped both of her legs around Yoona’s left and began twisting the champion’s foot in her hands.
Without the stirrup in place to anchor her foot against her leg sleeve, Park screamed bloody murder as the tendons and ligaments in her ankle were tested and found wanting. She thrashed about like a fish out of water, peppering Dare’s flank with wild kicks from her right leg, but still the Oncoming Storm held fast and torqued her foot into a gruesome angle. In a last ditch effort, Yoona threw her entire body to one side, painfully tweaking her captured ankle even more, though she was at least able to flip the both of them onto their stomachs.
Now able to get her arms underneath her, Park began the arduous process of crawling for the ropes on her elbows while kicking her right foot against the mat. To her dismay, forward progress was unbearably slow with Olivia’s weight still anchored to her left leg, and for all her effort, she really only succeeded in spinning them in a lopsided circle. Dare let the champion struggle a little more, then she pivoted onto her knees before rising to a full stand with Park’s foot in her grasps. Olivia’s new position granted her much more leverage, allowing her to bear down on the ex-ballerina’s ravaged ankle with her full weight, and that was much more than Yoona could take.
“OKAY! OKAY, I GIVE!” she cried out, repeatedly slapping her palm on the canvas. “LEMME GO!”
ANKLE LOCK:www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh911ANtamcThe Oncoming Storm held on just long enough for the scoreboard to update the tally, then she released the Ankle Lock and slowly backed away before uncharacteristically breaking her British reserve by wheeling about and whipping her clenched fist through the air. The show of emotion was brief, however, for Olivia knew she still had much to do. While her deficit was now just a single fall, FAWN’s bylaws dictated that any incumbent champion would retain her title in the event of a draw. In order to seize the EurAsian championship, Dare would have to score at least two more falls with just a paltry eight minutes left in the match, a tall task against any opponent, let alone the Slim Reaper.
Fortunately, Yoona’s ego would not allow her to milk the clock any longer than strictly necessary for her to get upright despite what was likely a sprained ankle, roughly shoving Merle to the side when the referee tried to insist on inspecting her foot. Olivia had just made her surrender in the middle of the ring, and she would not be satisfied until she repaid that humiliation. She retrieved her discarded gauntlet and secured her leg sleeve once more, then she staggered towards her challenger without another word. Robbed of the impeccable footwork that was the foundation of her striking prowess, Park dipped a shoulder and plowed straight into Dare.
Olivia grunted loudly upon the initial collision, but she managed to roll with the impact, spreading her arms out as she fell to her back while simultaneously wrapping her legs around Yoona’s waist. Having learned her lesson from earlier, Dare tightly hugged the other wrestler to her chest to prevent the Slim Reaper from getting into position to drop elbows and fists into her face. In retaliation, Park swiped her nails across the Englishwoman’s face, and when Dare yelped in pain, Yoona jammed her right hand into Olivia’s open mouth.
For a short while, the pair of wrestlers were at a stalemate, Dare with her Bodyscissors and Park with her Mandible Claw that had Eliza Bliss shrieking gimmick infringement at the monitor in the backstage lounge. As the seconds ticked past the first minute and approached the second, however, it became clear that neither woman could submit the other in their current predicament. Having her thigh nearly snapped across the top rope earlier in the match had sapped much of the power from Olivia’s Bodyscissors, while Yoona was nowhere near as proficient with the Mandible Claw as Dare’s tag partner and fellow Blackbird.
It was the Oncoming Storm who moved first to break the deadlock. She unwrapped her legs, planted both feet on the Korean’s thighs, and gave a forceful kick to shove her foe further down so that the point of Park’s chin was now at her navel. In the next instant, Olivia’s legs clamped shut again, although this time they were wrapped around Yoona’s head, neck, and right arm -- the last of which was still fully extended towards Dare’s head and working the Mandible Claw. Having smoothly transitioned into a textbook Triangle Choke, the Englishwoman squeezed for all she was worth.
TRIANGLE CHOKE:www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUgzkNGGCGIUnlike the Bodyscissor, the Triangle Choke was effective even in its diminished state. While Olivia might have put her opponent out within thirty seconds had she been in top condition, Yoona was still very obviously weakening by the second. Soon her strength had waned by enough that Dare was able to tear away the Mandible Claw, the Englishwoman taking a couple of big gasps that were equal parts triumph and relief.
The champion still had one more arrow in her quiver, however, and she reached up with both hands to seize Olivia’s wrists. The edges of Yoona’s vision were going red, but neither that nor her wounded ankle stopped her from getting first to her knees and then to her feet, still bent over at the waist and stuck in Dare’s Triangle Choke. With the Oncoming Storm now stacked on the back of her head and neck, the official dropped to the canvas to check if her shoulders were also down for the pin.
It was a moot point though, because Yoona straightened her back and flexed her biceps to lift Olivia entirely off the mat. Park was too worn down and too exhausted to get her opponent all the way up into the Powerbomb position, so when her efforts stalled out at the three-quarters mark, she simply let gravity take its course and fell forward to drive Dare to the deck. Olivia gasped loudly as her back slammed into the thinly-covered plywood and forced the air from her lungs. More importantly, her legs loosened just enough to allow a bit more blood and oxygen through to Yoona’s brain, though she quickly redoubled her efforts to squeeze her thighs shut before Park could fully recuperate.
Fighting to her feet once more, the Slim Reaper tried again for the Powerbomb, although this time she petered out and dropped back down before Dare was halfway up. After a futile effort, a third attempt withered on the vine and Yoona collapsed onto her stomach for the last time before she could even get to her feet. In a final act of defiance, she extended a middle finger towards Merle when the referee asked if she wanted to tap rather than nap, then she held that upraised digit inches away from Olivia’s face even as the light faded from her eyes.
Finally, when the last sparks of Yoona’s consciousness were snuffed out, her arm fell limp onto the blonde’s chest. Merle knew that an arm check wouldn’t be necessary, and in the interest of preserving as much time as possible for a definitive finish rather than a draw, he strode over and quickly raised Olivia’s right hand, both to signify her latest point and to pull her off of Park. The FAWNtron now showing the score tied at three apiece with only a minute and a half left, the entire audience -- no matter if they supported champion or challenger -- stood up and stayed on their feet for the remainder of the match, stomping their heels in rhythm for every second that ticked off the clock.
Meanwhile, the Oncoming Storm was faced with something of a moral dilemma. There were never any hard and fast requirements regarding how much recovery time a wrestler would be allowed after each fall in an Iron Woman match. Traditionally, the loser of the previous fall was afforded the courtesy and privilege of deciding when action would resume, and both wrestlers had abided by that unwritten and unspoken rule thus far. Given Park’s current state, however, it would be a physiological impossibility for her to regain anything resembling fighting condition before time expired.
Olivia looked down at Yoona, the Korean slurring incomprehensibly as Merle knelt at her side and did his best to rouse her. Then Dare scanned the tens of thousands of faces in the crowd, and when her eyes fell across the gilded belt at the announcer’s table, she had her answer.
“No quarter,” she muttered to herself.
Her decision made, the Oncoming Storm shooed away the referee and dragged her burbling opponent to the middle of the ring. Olivia went back to work on Yoona’s left leg, peeling away the leg sleeve and turning her onto her stomach as the assembled FAWNatics buzzed with concern and anticipation. Faced with little resistance, Dare folded the captured limb around the back of her neck with her handholds at ankle and thigh, then she planted a boot on the opposite calf to pin Park’s other leg to the mat and leaned hard to the left to crank up the pressure on the Korean’s leg, hip, and spine.
OLI-VIATICUM:www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWepwtHz4yQThe strain of the Oli-viaticum brought Yoona semi-consciousness with a pained moan, but with less than a minute to go, Olivia needed a submission and she needed it soon. The Oncoming Storm made claws of her hands, the left digging into the foot and the right clamping on the groin of her opponent, and within a second Park was wailing like a banshee. The beleaguered wrestler reached towards the ropes, and when she found those lifelines well out of arms-length, her predicament was so excruciating that she nearly tapped out on the spot.
A murmur from the crowd just as she raised her hand caught her attention though, and Yoona craned her neck and looked at the FAWNtron through bleary eyes. The sight of the tied score and the ticking clock brought her back to full awareness, then she buried her hands in her hair, tore at her locks, and gnashed her teeth, doing whatever possible to ride out the next forty-three seconds and counting. The fans of the challenger and the champion took up dueling chants of “TAP!” and “PLEASE DON’T TAP!” respectively, and as the matched entered its final half-minute, Dare’s patience wore thin.
“GIVE IT UP, PARK!” Olivia roared as she shifted her stance to grind a heel into the back of her opponent’s neck.
Concerned that the Korean wrestler might suffer permanent damage, Merle knelt down and asked, “What do you say, Yoona? You need me to --”
“NnnnnnoooOOOOOOOOOO!” Yoona howled, pulling at her hair so hard that she ripped apart her own braid. “FUCK YOU, ‘LIV! FUCK YOU AND FUCK THE TEA-SWILLING DONKEY YOU RRRAAAWWRRRGGHHH GAAAWWWDDD!”
Still unable to force a surrender from the obstinate Korean, Dare slipped her right hand into one of the legholes of Park’s one piece and put her Crotch Claw directly to work on the soft, sensitive flesh underneath. Yoona screamed something awful, her screeching getting higher and higher and higher until her voice broke and she was reduced to tortured, hacking sobs, but still she persisted until the clock counted down to three… then two… then one… and then the bell sounded simultaneously to a massive eruption of noise from the crowd.
In the next instant, Merle was behind the Englishwoman with an arm looped around her waist, dragging her away from the wreckage of her opponent. As Yoona curled into a shuddering, shivering ball, Olivia turned her gaze towards the FAWNtron, breathing hard and inwardly hoping that perhaps she had missed it when Park submitted at the last possible moment. When the scoreboard still did not change from three-to-three after a few seconds, however, the challenger’s fears were confirmed. Dare closed her eyes, tilted her head towards the rafters, and gave a long sigh tinged with frustration and disappointment.
“It was a good fight, Olivia,” the referee said as he came to her side and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “You gave it everything you had. Both of you did.”
Dare glanced at Merle out of the corner of her eye, then she gave a couple of small nods before she wiped her slick right hand on the front of the man’s striped shirt.
“Aww, c’mon, man! I just got the nacho stains out last week….” the official whined, although Dare paid his complaint no mind.
“When you hand her the belt, let her know she’s earned it...” Olivia said softly. “...and tell her not to lose it before I’m granted my rematch.”
With that, the Englishwoman gingerly stepped through the ropes and dropped down to the floor. Or at least she would have if it weren’t for her opponent tightly clinging to her right shin.
“Where the FUCK are you going, ‘Liv?!” Yoona huffed, still lying on her belly with her hair loose and wild and looking very much like a woman who’d just walked the scenic route through Hell. “I’ll give you your goddamn rematch right here, right now.”
“...you can hardly even walk,” Dare replied, though she made no further efforts to leave the ring or shake free of the other wrestler’s grasps.
Groaning and grimacing with the effort, Yoona used Olivia’s body to haul herself upright, and once she was eye-to-eye and nose-to-nose with the Oncoming Storm, she snapped back, “Good thing this ain’t a walking contest then.”
Dare cocked an eyebrow as her lips stretched into the faintest of smirks. While she didn’t offer a verbal response, the fact that she backed into one corner of the squared circle made her intents known to everyone in the building. Meanwhile, the Slim Reaper stripped off her remaining leg sleeve and both gauntlets and tossed the protective gear into the crowd, lest anyone think she needed any aid in overcoming her opponent. The fans, both Storm Watchers and Park Place alike, voiced their approval with an echoing chant of, “
ONE! MORE! TIME! ONE! MORE! TIME! ONE! MORE! TIME!”
Indeed, out of all the people in the FAWN Arena, the only person who seemed opposed was the man in charge of the proceedings.
“I’m sorry, ladies, but we can’t do that,” Merle said to suddenly virulent boos from the audience. “As you know, pay-per-view events are tightly scheduled and we must make --”
“Merle, come here,” Park interrupted as she beckoned the official towards her with one hand.
“Nuh-uh! Not falling for that one again… fool me once, shame on… shame on you. Fool me… err… you can’t get fooled -- OWW DAMN IT!” the man yelped when Olivia stepped up from behind and slapped him hard on the back of the head.
“ET TU, OLIVIA?!” he screamed, taken aback by the betrayal and pointing an accusing finger at the Englishwoman. “
ET TUUUUUUUUUU?!”
“Oh, quit being melodramatic and do your job already.”
Olivia’s sentiment was echoed by a voice coming from Merle’s earpiece, and within seconds, the tally and timer on the FAWNtron were replaced by the words “SUDDEN DEATH” in flaming red letters. His putative authority once again undermined, the referee sighed helplessly and gestured for the timekeeper to ring the bell, giving champion and challenger the chance to settle things definitively.
For all her bravado moments ago, Park approached her opponent cautiously with a hitch in her step and a knot in her back, lingering effects of the Ankle Lock and Oli-viaticum, respectively. Olivia, on the other hand, seemed far less affected by her stiff right leg, and as a result she was able to sweep her opponent into an Elbow and Collar tie-up and force the Korean back against the ropes, an inversion of their situations at the start of the match.
Dare backed off as soon as the referee started counting, though it was only to readjust her grip to a Three Quarters facelock around Park’s head and flipping the champion to the mat with a crisp Snapmare. Yoona bounced to a seat, grimacing and pressing one hand to her lower spine, and a moment later she had more aches and pains to tend to when Olivia leapt into the air and fired a Dropkick right between her shoulderblades.
SNAPMARE AND LOW ANGLE DROPKICK:www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6xWzhoS0bcPark rolled onto her side, cringing from the nasty whiplash in her neck. Not bothering to get up after the Dropkick, the Oncoming Storm quickly scooted forward to wrap her thighs around her opponent’s head from behind, then she tucked her left ankle into the crook of her right knee to secure the Figure Four Headscissors. Having already been choked out once by those lethal limbs, Yoona didn’t doubt that Olivia could do it again if given the chance.
The Slim Reaper wrapped gripped those thighs encircling her head, not to pry them open -- she already knew that was impossible -- but to get more leverage. She rocked hard to one side, and when Dare twisted in the other direction to counterbalance the movement, Park suddenly reversed gears and torqued her whole body back the other way to turn both of them onto their bellies before the Englishwoman could readjust.
Yoona rose up onto tiptoes which in turn forced Olivia to push up onto her palms in order to maintain the Headscissors, leaving the interlocked wrestlers precariously balanced on Park’s feet and Dare’s hands. At first few if any fans in the audience understood how this was going to help Yoona in anyway, but then her plan became obvious when she flexed her knees and gave a single explosive push to send both herself and her opponent tumbling head over heels. Park’s back slammed into the mat after the abbreviated Front Roll, and more importantly, her calves slammed into the bottom rope. Bad ankle or not, Yoona tightly hooked her feet around that springy steel cable, and five seconds later, Merle was demanding that Olivia release the Headscissor.
Dare did as bade, getting to her feet and retreating to the opposite side of the ring before hunkering down into an expectant crouch with hands on her knees. Park needed a few more seconds and the help of the ropes to make it upright, then she limped to the nearest corner and headbutted the top turnbuckle at half-strength to get a quick boost of adrenaline and to clear the fog over her senses.
<<
One last time...>> she murmured, repeating the crowd’s chant to herself in her native tongue and imploring her ragged body to hold together just a little longer.
With that, the Slim Reaper spun on her heels and sprinted towards the Englishwoman as fast as she could in her battered state. Olivia came charging forward too, not wanting to get caught with her back against the corner. For a split second they looked to be on a collision course, but at the last moment, Park dropped herself to the mat with a Baseball Slide and skidded right through Dare’s legs.
A streak of mat-burn along her right flank was a small price to pay for snaring both of her opponent’s ankles midway through the slide, then Yoona got to her haunches and gave a hard yank on those captured limbs. Olivia slammed face-first into the deck after having her feet pulled out from under her, and when her hands reflexively went to protect her now-aching nose, Park dove forward with a low-flying Elbow Smash to the back of her head.
That second impact dazed the challenger just long enough for the champion to flip her over and straddle her left thigh while reaching back to seize her right foot. Olivia knew she was in trouble even before a rumble of “
SNU SNU!” rippled through the crowd, but the pair of blows to her head dulled her reflexes to the point that she couldn’t do anything except scream when Yoona leaned forward onto her, stretching her right leg until her ankle was at the top of her head. At the same time, Park wrapped both of her legs around Dare’s left and pinned it flat against the mat, forcing the Englishwoman into a brutal set of vertical splits that was the precursor to Yoona’s dreaded Death by Snu Snu finisher.
After that initial shriek of pain and panic, Olivia managed to clamp her mouth shut and started to assess her situation. Even for the most flexible of wrestlers, it was only a matter of time until Park’s notorious leg stretches pushed them past their limits, and with Dare’s previously wounded hamstring her limits were already drastically reduced. Olivia pushed and pried against Yoona’s head, neck, and chest with her hands, trying desperately to upset the ex-ballerina’s balance, though the challenger knew it was likely useless.
Indeed, Park merely leaned in further, nuzzling her face in against the left side of Dare’s neck while capturing her opponent’s head and right shin in the crook of her left arm. She slid her right forearm under Olivia’s left shoulder and joined her hands together in an S-grip in front of her face, in effect latching herself even more tightly to her opponent while also drastically increasing the intensity of the stretch.
Merle noticed the challenger’s expression of abject agony, so he knelt down and asked, “How’re you doing, ‘Liv? Need me to call it?”
Dare didn’t trust herself to open her mouth without screaming again, so she merely shook her head as best as she could. She was almost sure she could feel the muscles in her leg and groin tearing apart fiber by fiber, and left with no other possible counter, she enacted a desperate and possibly self-destructive gambit. Planting her left foot and both elbows against the mat, she raised her hips in a bridge to grind her crotch against Park’s, then settled back down to the deck before repeating the motion again and again in a lithe, serpentine motion.
“Stop it, ‘Liv. You don’t know what you’re doing,” Yoona hissed, although the slight tremor in her voice made it evident that her nymphomania was already working against her. “This isn’t going to end the way you ---
mmmmm oohhhhhhhh…”
That lusty moan recharged Olivia’s reserves, and she increased the pace of her thrusts. Just a few strokes later, she felt Yoona’s hips start to move in perfect synchronization with her own, and shortly afterwards, Park’s clutches began to loosen. Dare granted herself a single gasp of relief as the unbearable tearing and ripping sensation in her leg began to subside, then she redoubled her efforts to grind out the Slim Reaper from below.
“
Ooooooohh… you
sluuuuuuuuuut…” the Korean murmured between her hot and heavy pants of breath. “Whatever happened toooOOOOOHHHHH…!”
The pair of them had maintained a gentleman’s agreement to curtail any cattiness during their sparring sessions, but that mutual understanding meant little with a title on the line and under the watchful eyes of untold millions around the world, so the Oncoming Storm brought her full complement of weapons to bear. Olivia’s thrusts grew faster and faster and bridged up higher and higher as Yoona’s hips became more pliant with each passing second, inviting the Englishwoman in for more and more and more and more. Soon she felt her opponent’s wetness seeping in through her bottoms, and she knew victory was at hand.
“NoooOOHHH… stop it,
’LiiiiIIIIIIIIIVVVV…” Park moaned, seemingly at the very limits of her self-control.
“What’s the matter, luv?” Dare whispered, finally allowing herself to speak again. “Can you not handle your ooooOOOOHHHHH
GOOOOODDDD!”
The echoes of her euphoric shriek were still tickling the back of her throat when Olivia realized she’d been had.
It was a lie.
All of it was a lie.
Park had been in control the entire time. Those soft, yielding hips had been a feint to slowly -- imperceptibly -- lure Dare into a rhythm she could not withstand, and the challenger had fallen right into the honeypot. It dawned upon Olivia that it was she herself who’d soaked her trunks, not Yoona, and the Englishwoman couldn’t quite squelch a despondent sob when faced with the crushing truth that she was on the verge of Suicide by Snu Snu.
“Congratulations, English.
You played yourself,” the Slim Reaper whispered, harsh and triumphant, clamping on the leg stretch even more tightly than before and abruptly turning her opponent’s moans into a hair-raising howl. “Now give up!”
Olivia wouldn’t give up, however. Her pride simply would not allow it. Not even when her undulating pelvis had taken on a mind of its own nor when the sinews in her leg threatened to snap like piano wires. After a great effort, she forced out a guttural “No” through her gritted teeth when Merle asked again for her submission, though everyone in the building knew that the storm would be broken any moment now.
“Jesus Fucking Christ, ‘Liv! Submit already!” Yoona hissed into the side of her neck. “This is gonna
ruin you!”
The Englishwoman’s slender frame shook like a leaf caught in the autumn wind as she tried to hold back the tide, entwining both hands in the champion’s dark hair and giving the referee another vigorous shake of her head.
“Goddamn it, you’re gonna tear all your fucking tendons when you come! You’ll never be the same again, so just GIVE… THE FUCK…
UP!”
Dare knew that Park wasn’t lying, the grisly fate of Fiona Waterford had proven that much, but even with her hips wildly pumping up and down and up and down like a jackhammer she wouldn’t give in. She
couldn’t give in. She’d rather the Reaper take her leg than her dignity.
“NO!” she croaked to the referee when it seemed like he was about to call the match. “No… no…”
Dare closed her eyes and bit her bottom lip to keep it from quivering, mentally preparing herself for a devastating defeat followed by an arduous rehabilitation. Her opponent, however, wanted no part of that.
“‘Liv,
please…” Yoona whispered into her left ear so that only the two of them could hear. “Don’t make me the woman who broke Olivia Dare’s leg...”
Upon hearing those familiar words, something inside of Olivia crumbled.
“Olivia, do you want to --”
“YES!” she cried out, her voice deep and husky, something halfway between a shout and a sob. “YES!
YES!”
At first, Merle wasn’t sure if that had been an orgasmic scream or a submission, but then Olivia removed all doubt by lightly tapping her palm on the back of Yoona’s head.
Just as the final bell tolled, Park rocked back onto her haunches and gingerly set her opponent’s leg on the mat, the limb avoiding major damage after being taken within an inch of the breaking point. Yoona scooted forward so that she was straddling Olivia’s stomach, using the additional leverage of her position to keep the Englishwoman’s bucking hips pinned to the mat. Then she cupped her hands around Dare’s trembling cheeks and leaned forward again so that she was nose-to-nose and brow-to-brow with her vanquished foe.
The sound of her pulse pounding in her ears was so loud that Yoona legitimately didn’t hear it when she was officially declared the winner and still champion, nor did she move a muscle when Merle tried to hand her the EurAsian title belt. For reasons that even she didn’t fully understand, Park knelt there still as a statue for what felt like hours, completely oblivious to the outside world until her opponent finally spoke.
“...finish it…” Olivia quietly rasped. “...I didn’t come here for a tease… finish what you started…”
Yoona only had to consider it for a moment.
“No. Not today…” she replied. “...already had one friend fucked to tears... don’t need a second...”
With that, Park dismounted and rolled onto her back, sprawling out like a starfish next to her valiant challenger and allowing the referee to respectfully lay her title belt across her heaving chest. The exhaustion hit her like a ton of bricks now that the heat of the moment had passed, so Yoona was content to stare at the ceiling lights and wait for the ring technicians to shuttle her backstage.
After a long silence, Olivia spoke again while they were being loaded onto a pair of gurneys.
“Park, you owe me a go-kart ride.”
Yoona laughed and laughed and laughed all the way to the infirmary as both champion and challenger were wheeled away to a standing ovation from the FAWNatics.
