Post by alyadmirer on May 8, 2016 20:48:50 GMT
“Ladies and gentlemen,” began the Jungle’s dapper announcer, “the following exhibition contest is scheduled for one fall with a twenty minute time limit. Introducing first, hailing from Brooklyn, New York, she stands at five feet three inches tall and weighs in at one hundred and twenty-five pounds. This is… DEMETRIA ANDREWS!”
DEMETRIA ANDREWS:
As Ludacris' ‘Act A Fool’ began to pump through the Bangor Municipal Auditorium, Demetria Andrews made her appearance in the floor level entryway. The Brooklyn girl stood there for a moment, one strong leg before the other, hands on hips and an expression of disapproval bordering on disgust as she surveyed the crowd. The crowd showed a fair bit of disapproval right back at her, but it was hard to dislike the smooth ebony skin already almost glistening under the lights and the power packed frame perfectly filling her purple bikini top and boxing shorts. With a flip of her long dark hair, she started to saunter her way to the squared circle.
Andrews’ movements were almost primal, each stride exuding both supreme confidence and an undeniable sensuality. Reaching the ring, she pulled herself onto the apron and then between the ropes. Standing in the middle with her arms outstretched above her head, Demetria’s expression was one of utter confidence. Maine wasn’t New York and Bangor sure as hell wasn’t Brooklyn, but this was her house now and she’d stomp anyone who tried to step in on her turf. That included the foreign weirdo the Jungle front office had paired her with tonight. Eager to give the newbie a welcome she’d never forget, Andrews stomped to a corner on the far side of the ring and settled in against the buckles, scowling back at the entranceway.
“And her opponent, making her debut in this promotion. Hailing from Reykjavik, Iceland, standing at six feet one inch tall and weighing in at one hundred and thirty nine pounds, she is known as The Stranger and the Face of Fear… ASTRID WHITE!”
As the announcer said her name the house lights dipped loooow, leaving the arena in twilight-darkness as a series of odd, distant insectoid scratching noises played through the PA. After a few seconds the audience heard a sharp, female, intake of breath, immediately followed by the mournful low bass drone and opening tom-tom of Radiohead’s ‘Climbing Up The Walls’. The floor lights around the entrance lit up grey-green, illuminating a cloud of thick churning smoke which obscured the entire opening and gradually pulled back to reveal a figure, distorted by the low lighting to seem impossibly tall and slender.
ASTRID WHITE:
With perfect timing, the figure took a small step forward just as a pure white spotlight came down from overhead. This was enough to show the newcomer’s legs, long and toned with knee-high white muay thai boots and black boy-cut shorts, below a glimpse of tight abs and a white sheer-panelled halter over a modest chest. But the large hood of the waist-length black leather jacket obscured the upper half of her face. Printed in lurid green on the back of the jacket was a strange symbol, a stylised A with an eye in it’s centre, which gave the more knowledgeable fans a big clue about the figure’s identity. The figure continued her slow march, keeping perfect time with the spotlight and her entrance music until the first chorus began:
And either way you turn, I’ll be there
Open up your skull, I’ll be there
Climbing up the walls…
At this the figure stopped and a beaming smile slowly broadened across the visible lower half of her face. But by the end of these words the smile had vanished again and, still in time with the drums, her pace increased to a long and powerful stride which had her up the ring steps and onto the apron before the start of the second verse.
Just as Thom Yorke was telling the crowd that ‘It’s always best when the light is out’, the house lights flared back on, exactly as the figure rocked her head back so the hood fell away. As the crowd got the first proper sight of Astrid White she slowly turned her head to take them in, her grey-green eyes seeming to stare through each fan in turn as her chestnut hair swung wavy and loose down to the top of her neck . Then, in a single sudden gesture to acknowledge these people she raised her right hand to her face, palm outward and two fingers splayed so that her eye made the cross for a sideways ‘A’. Finally done with the elaborate entrance, Astrid shrugged the jacket from her shoulders, letting it pool on the floor by the ring steps, and slipped over the top rope into the ring, moving to stand erect in the nearby corner.
Judging from the crowd noise they weren’t really sure what to make of these theatrics, although the sight of the beautiful, long and lean brunette in the ring was enough to get a pretty positive reaction. But a scowl from the opposing corner made it clear that Andrews wasn’t similarly impressed. As the referee checked the newcomer, she marched out to the centre ring, apparently seething as the bell was rung. “Listen you beanpole freak, This is my house and I don’t like freakshows. Now get over here and take your whuppin.”
Astrid’s eyebrows raised slightly for a brief second, then dropped to neutral as she glided out from the corner and assumed an aggressive strikers stance, beginning to circle left towards the smaller woman. Demetria seemed surprised by the lack of verbal response but clearly decided she just didn’t care, storming straight towards her opponent and launching a huge right hook which swished harmlessly by as the taller woman swayed away. Andrews growled and pressed forward again, swinging a lead-off left jab with another hook cocked and ready to go. The jab was harmlessly swept aside, Astrid daintily stepping to her left to avoid the follow-up and then swinging her leg round to thwack two hard low kicks into Demetria’s thigh.
Demetria snarled and backed up. “You think you some sort of ninja, string bean? You’re meant to be a wrestler, f&$&£^% stand up for yourself.” Despite giving away almost a foot in height the smaller girl charged forward again and tried to go for a collar and elbow lock up. Astrid seemed to shake her head slightly, as if disappointed, but got her arms up to meet the onrushing fighter. Andrews’ speed was enough to push her back a few steps, but White’s height soon had her back to centre ring. However, instead of pushing on Astrid brought her left knee up and into the shorter girl’s stomach, then pushing it further up against her sternum and rotating left to break one half of the clinch. Demetria had barely recovered from the sudden move when Astrid stepped back, pulling the captured arm to its full length, jabbed a knee into the smaller girl’s armpit and fell sharply to her back, her knee smashing into the soft tissue and roughly jarring Andrews’ right shoulder.
Demetria barely had time to cough out ‘B!^£$’ before Astrid was up again, stepping over the captured limb and pulling it up into a standing armbar, then dropping to her knees to slam the injured shoulder down hard into the canvas. This process was repeated twice more, each eliciting a louder groan from Andrews. Her face still perfectly neutral, Astrid methodically stepped back and swung a quick soccer kick into the captured joint and then finally let go, sweeping back a few steps and falling back into her taekwondo stance, a arms spread wide and one set of fingers curling her to motion the prone girl back up.
And she didn’t have to wait. Demetria roared up off the mat, charging forward and swinging wildly. The shots had no more effect than her previous efforts, but apparently by chance one of Andrews’ wild elbows caught the meat of Astrid’s bicep, spinning her round so that her chest was wide open when the smaller girl’s forearm thwammed into it. Astrid moved to rotate away again, but the impact was enough to allow Demetria to wrap her thick arms into a waistlock. “Gotcha now B!^£$,” she snarled, ignoring the taller girl’s push on her hands and lifting her off her feet to slam back first into the turnbuckles. Demetria immediately went to work, thrusting her shoulder into Astrid’s torso as the ref began his count. Breaking at four, she stepped back and raised her hands to show the break, then CRACKED a slap that rotated Astrid’s still impassive face before the ref could even blink.
Astrid’s head slowly revolved back to her smirking opponent, her face still neutral but her grey-green stare seemingly dialled up several notches. Undeterred, Andrews reached up to take two handfuls of hair and, ignoring the referee’s protests, yanked her over into a snapmare. Astrid landed on her butt with a loud thump but had no time to react before Andrews smacked a hard kick into her spine. This finally brought a reaction out of Astrid, her face wincing in pain and a quiet hiss escaping her teeth. Andrews continued her assault, stepping around and in front of the beanpole and diving down to land with her knees either side of Astrid’s waist and her crotch buried into her belly. Astrid landed hard on her back as Andrews completed the full mount. Demetria pressed down on the skinny girl’s soulders, pouring her not inconsiderable power to try for a...
ONE...
And Astrid smoothly bridged up to roll a shoulder off the matt. Andrews didn’t mind that much, the bitch deserved a lot more than she’d gotten so far anyway.
“This is that whupping I was talking about, ho!” Astrid was just able to get her arms up into a guard as Andrews began raining down hammerfists, forearms and elbows. Usually this was a methodical process, the attacker looking for weaknesses and the defender trying to block as much as possible and look for a way to switch. But something about this newbie had clearly riled Demetria, and her anger poured into wild swings which would have been lethal if Astrid hadn’t absorbed almost everything in an easy guard. After thirty seconds Andrews was breathing heavy, the pace slowed to the point that she could tell she needed to change tack. And just as this thought crossed her mind, Astrid opened her elbows just a tiny bit, giving a glimpse of the face below. The skinny b!%^$ wasn’t just unharmed, she was actively smiling up at her. Andrews snarled and bore her body down onto the bigger girl’s, arms pushing her shoulders down again for another...
ONE
Astrid didn’t just kick out, she grasped her opponent’s arm again, bucked her hips and rolled her attacker clean off. Holding onto the arm she pulled hard, leaving Andrews face down as her opponent kneeled over her. Astrid rested one knee on the smaller girl’s shoulder, locked her other leg underneath and rolled back, flipping them both over to land in a shoulder slicer. Pulling back and bridging up with her hips, Astrid offered her first words of the match.
“It is time to talk about fear.”
Astrid had said this so quietly that even the ref was struggling to hear, but it apparently landed with Demetria. Struggling in the shoulderlock she snapped a quick “hell no” when stripes asked if she was ready to give up and managed to find some extra strength, rolling up on her shoulder and reaching over to grab at the captured arm. But Astrid seemed to be expecting this, using her opponent’s movement to pull both of them over onto their backs and then reaching her long arms down around the captured girl’s neck. Sitting back she cinched in a neck crank to go along with the arm trap. After a few seconds, with Demetria’s groans becoming a lot more urgent, Astrid decided to elaborate. “I do not mean any fear towards me. This may come in time. But I want to know what it is that makes you feel so angry, Demetria Andrews.”
Demetria pulled her free hand out from underneath her body and used it to push her torso up, wriggling her legs to drag herself towards the ropes. “uh…I ain’t scared of…nothing b!&%$, and the thing…makin’ me so angry is your skinny aAAAARGH”. White’s arms wrenched viciously, but her voice was almost as if musing to herself. “Do I make you angry because I represent success and novelty from a company which long since lost interest in you? Or do I remind you of your own more successful cousin and her moving on without you?” At the conclusion of this Astrid yanked back hard on the crank, but then again seemed to decide she’d had enough, releasing her limbs and standing back up with the same gesture as previously. This time Demetria was much slower to respond, taking a second to catch her breath on the mat and then gingerly standing up, noticeably avoiding any possible pressure on her abused left shoulder.
Despite this Demetria stuck to her only real tactic. Relying again on her strength, she bulled forwards, absorbing two more low kicks on her thigh as she came in. But this time the Stranger demonstrated a little more aggression, swinging up a toe kick which had the ebony grappler bending over hard. Astrid capitalised, grabbing a front facelock and swinging her body up to land on her back, spiking Andrews’ skull into the canvas with a flowing DDT.
Andrews slumped over, ring sense just reminding her to go on her front to avoid the potential pin. But Astrid again showed little interest in this. Instead she hung onto one arm and used it as a lever, pulling her own body up in a back somersault to end up with her legs lying across her downed opponents far arm. Then the Stranger showed a bit more of her fluid skill, using both tied up arms to roll back and flip Andrews up and onto her back with both arms locked in a crucifix and her head and body wide open to Astrid’s free arm.
Immediately it was apparent that the Icelander was a much more controlled striker than her wild-eyed opponent had been, Astrid eschewing rage and flurries for three pinpoint elbow strikes which crashed into the smaller woman’s temple. Demetria had no real way of covering up from this except turning her head, but the Stranger simply switched the point of attack, driving the elbow into the hurt shoulder and raising a nasty welt in the process. Then, as before, she just let go, moving around as Andrews rolled onto her knees an held her head, assuming she could justTHWACK! Astrid’s booted shin took her right across the face, the buzzsaw kick sending Andrews back to the canvas headfirst.
Through the fog in her head Demetria could hear the freaky b!^$£ talking again. “It becomes increasingly clear. You see a world which is beyond you. Which flies past as you try to grasp it. You fear for your own relevance. So stand up now, and let us try to find that again.” Message delivered, Astrid took two sweeping steps back. Andrews was utterly sick of this, but the volcano of rage which poured out earlier had melded into a burning desire to show this ho who she was messing with, so she decided to be a little more circumspect this time. Assuming a tight boxing stance she sidled forward, legs prepared for any more of those nasty low kicks.
Demetria Andrews might not have been the most feared fighter in the organisation but she had some mean boxing skills and plenty of KOs on her record. So it was surprising to the crowd that Astrid just let her come close. Indeed, she barely moved as Andrews faked high, slipped in low and then behind her in another waistlock. White’s only response was to murmur “you shouldn’t fear failure in comparison to others. There are more important things to be afraid of.” At this point Andrews was already as riled as she was likely to get, but her fighter’s instinct told her that taking a trip to the canvas right now would be a mistake. Instead she decided to light the b!&^% up, grabbing one of the prying arms, and flinging her off in an Irish whip then slamming a forearm into Astrid’s chest on the return. The taller girl staggered back into the ropes and came forward again, arms open as if inviting anothSMASH! Andrews left her feet and leaped forward, her forearm taking Astrid in the throat and sending her flying back to slump in the ropes with Demetria right up in her face. “Surprise, muthaf%”$£^$!” Demetria shouted as the brunette tried to extricate her arms and cover up. Andrews was suddenly in her element, pistoning several short uppercuts into the taut skin of her opponent’s midriff and then pancaking the brunette’s modest chest as the tall girl struggled to disentangle herself.
On the receiving end of some real punishment for the first time in the match, Astrid stayed typically calm. It had become apparent that her right arm was quite firmly stuck, which would make any kind of guard awkward. Instead Astrid decided to show off a little more innovation. She leaned back into the ropes and lifted both knees up hard, the left briefly covering her belly while the right lifted further into Andrews’ chin. The shot didn’t have much real power, but the tangled grappler made herself a lot more comfortable by kicking her leg out, bringing her considerable leg strength to bear and pushing her unbalanced opponent away. And this was all the invitation White needed to go back on the offensive.
Releasing her arm and rotating her body, Astrid threw a smooth side kick up into Demetria’s face. The shorter girl caught this flush in the jaw, rocking her back, but had the presence of mind to step back and bring up a guard. Although the Stranger’s next kick looked exactly the same it curved past this and then hooked back to catch the side of her face. Andrews spun away and took a few steps, looking for some space of her own. But she wasn’t about to get this easily. Astrid had decided it was time to stop being methodical about the shoulder and show off some of her arsenal. She used the ropes as a springboard and leaped out into her opponent, elbow cocked to smack into Demetria’s collar bone and she flew past. Andrews reeled back, and spun around juuuust fast enough to catch a huge boot to the jaw as Astrid rebounded with the Yakuza kick she called ‘White Heat’. Demetria spun again and landed on the mat in a groaning heap as her opponent skidded to a stop a few feet away. Astrid dropped fluidly to her knees, rolled the dark haired and glassy eyed beauty onto her back, and hooked a leg for...
ONE
TWO
THNO!
Andrews rolled her back off the matt and flopped to her side, breathing heavy. Astrid’s instinct was to go straight back to working the injured shoulder; she knew that a little more tenderisation would make Demetria ripe for an easy application of her finisher. But if this was going to be her only chance to sell herself as a big league player she needed to showcase more than just her fighting brain. As such she leaned down and grabbed her moaning opponent around the neck then lifted up, hauling Andrews to unsteady verticality. Moving quickly she tucked her own head under one of Demetria’s meaty arms whilst grasping the other and pulling it down between her legs, almost ready to go with the exploder suplex she called the ‘Fear of Heights’. White set her feet and braced to snap her opponent up and over, when Demetria slipped one hand out of the clutch and pushed hard on the tall girl’s sternum. The effect of this was to send Astrid reeling back, arms waving to keep her balance and her body ripe for another round of Andrews’ fists.
And Demetria didn’t need a second invitation, storming in and launching a huge forearm smash to the jaw which nearly had Astrid off her feet. Andrews thwammed home another elbow and then went back to work on her opponent’s reddening torso as the tall girl tried to cover up her face. But this wasn’t enough, the smaller girl’s onslaught forcing her back into a corner which Demetria was only to pleased to take advantage of. This time instead of throwing shoulders Demetria brought her knees into play, slamming three into Astrid’s stomach in queck succession to take the wind out of the newbie. But the final insult was the fourth, which landed way south of her tummy and solidly in the centre of her trunks. Astrid gasped as the blow hit home and dropped to her knees, thoughts of defending her face forgotten. And, just as she’d planned, Andrews took advantage of this to swing a closed-fisted one-two punch into her opponents’ temple.
Demetria was finally into a groove in this fight, strutting away and blowing imaginary smoke off her fists as the debutant stayed in the corner trying to clear her head. But this wasn’t helped when Andrews sprang off the ropes and bulleted back, dropping a corner cross body into the new girl’s face. Now looking to let the proper beating begin, Andrews stepped up of the brunette wreckage, sprang from the second turnbuckle and dropped down hard, driving all the wind from White’s belly and rocking her head back against the bottom buckle. Now finally heeding the ref’s increasingly whiney calls for a break, Andrews pulled grabbed her legs and hauled out of the corner, collecting them up for a tight matchbook as the ref counted...
ONE
TW…
And Astrid bucked back to shake off the pin. Undeterred Demetria grabbed two handfuls of chestnut hair and snarled “Time to go for a ride twiggy!”
Astrid felt herself yanked up and out of her corner, and then a pair of strong arms wrapped around her midsection. Despite the huge height difference it seemed that the smaller girl was going for a bearhug! Astrid felt herself being lifted off the floor, and in a detached way had to admire her opponent’s strength and guts to try this. But White was also aware that Demetria liked to use a bearhug brainbuster as a finisher, and whilst she was confident in being able to absorb anything Andrews could throw, she also felt that she’d let the crowd have enough jeopardy before the finish.
White’s arms were bound tight by the thick arms encircling her, and the close proximity gave no room to use her legs. She still had plenty of options, but Astrid first decided to use her charm. That smile spread across her face once more, and she made sure her opponent knew damn well it was there. Andrews had just started to growl a response when the brunette’s forehead smashed forward, the higher angle meaning the smaller girl had no choice but to rock her head back out of danger.
And at this point it became clear that Astrid had the situation in hand all along. Lowering her head into the suddenly open hollow below her opponents chin, White straightened her legs to the full extent, touched off the floor and bulled forwards, Demetria having no choice but to break the bearhug as her chin was pushed up and backwards by the Icelander’s crown. And the tables were truly turned when Astrid grasped one wildly flailing arm and tucked it tight between Andrews’ legs. “I have learned all I need from you, Demetria,” the Stranger purred as Andrews groaned and wriggled hard to escape. But this was to no avail as Astrid snapped her up and over to crash down on the back of her head, the ‘Fear of Heights’ finally catching up with her.
Astrid popped neatly back to her feet and took a few steps around the groaning ebony wreckage beside her. In normal circumstances she would be giving the battered girl a lecture on her own psychology at this stage, but somehow Demetria was so dull and obvious that Astrid didn’t really have the interest. Instead she simply took a few quick strides to the ropes and sprinted back, using the momentum to power her into a full length elbow drop into Demetria’s gulping tummy. Andrews sat up, unable to muster more than a low winded groan as White grabbed a handful of hair and hauled her back to verticality. Demetria rocked unsteadily, still shaking out the cobwebs, but she could sense danger coming at her from…
A knee threw up into the peak of Andrews’ chin. The close quarters again meant that Astrid wasn’t able to get the power on it that she might have wanted, but as Andrews’ head rocked the taller woman stepped back and created more than enough space. Still seeing stars, Demetria was pretty much defenceless when the first of White’s powerful side kicks flew hard into her forehead. Despite the fog she knew that her opponent liked to throw kicks in bunches so brought her arms into a rudimentary boxing guard which proved completely useless as Astrid hopped forward and opened her hips to send the crescent kick curving around her defences and crashing into her temple. Demetria’s eyes rolled back, but her instincts made her duck her head, hoping to at least go under any follow-up and buy a bit of space.
Unfortunately for her The Stranger had other ideas. Astrid decided to show off, her standing right foot hopping high off the canvas as her left described an arcing path around the dipping Andrews and then dropped out of the lights like a stooping falcon to crash her booted heel into the back of her opponent’s head. Demetria collapsed like her strings had been cut as Astrid landed lightly on her toes and the crowd let out a collective gasp, most of them having never seen the lethal leaping version of an axe kick before.
The calculating part of Astrid’s mind knew that she had just executed one of the riskiest and most visually impressive moves in all martial arts with near flawless precision. As such she maintained an exaggerated taekwondo stance for a few seconds, bouncing on her toes to deliver an Ali-like shuffle and make sure that spot made the highlight reel of the night. But another part of her brain knew that she’d got carried away. The leaping axe kick at the end of that sequence was enough to put much higher calibre opponents into semi-consiousness if she went for the head, and Astrid knew she’d got a very clean connection. Victory was now certain, not that it had ever been in doubt, but she knew she needed to be as impressive as possible in her debut, and a kayoed opponent meant she only really had one last chance to make her mark if she wanted to stay within the rules. Better not waste it.
Glaring at the referee, who’d gotten over his shock and was fussing around Andrews’ insensate form, Astrid swept forward and grasped her opponent in a loose front headlock. Getting absolutely no help from the obviously defenceless beauty, White pulled her up into a fireman’s carry then shifted her grip so that she held her opponent’s legs in a loose X. She briefly paused to flash the smile which had crossed her face during her entrance, turning 360 so all the arena could get a look. Then, once she heard the crowd’s buzz reach a certain point, she simultaneously swung Andrews’ body around, up off her shoulders and down, dropping to a seat as she did so to complete the cradle shock she called ‘Fear Itself’. The back of Demetria’s head and shoulders fell the full six feet and were then driven down into the canvas between Astrid’s thighs, White finally releasing her crossed legs so that the unconscious grappler sprawled out on her back. Rolling up onto her knees, and leaning down over her opponent, Astrid gathered Demetria’s hands and held them in place just below her breasts. “And that is what you should fear,” she murmured, more out of habit than any devastating psychological conclusion, as the crowd roar reached its loudest point of the night and the ref counted an academic…
ONE
TWO
THREE!
Neither wrestler moved a muscle during the count. The ref gestured to the timekeeper and stood up, waiting to raise the winner’s hand. Astrid held her pose for another few seconds, her face as impassive as ever and eyes staring out the hard camera opposite her. For a brief moment she felt disappointed; the girl was too stupid to be interesting and she had not been able to show off either of her signature submission moves and had a whole arsenal of close-combat tactics which must be saved for another day. But, if nothing else, she had at least got the crowd to shout louder than they had for the rest of the night.
Satisfied with that, Astrid she rolled back on her heels and stood to her full height, the ref having to reach up as he raised her left hand in victory. As he let go White let the hand fall and briefly feel her still slightly reddened abs, but raised her right, repeating her ‘A’ symbol over her eye and again panning her head to take in half of the arena. Then, without further ado, she slipped lightly through the ropes, dropped to the floor and collected the leather jacket which had been lying there throughout the match. As the chaotic later parts of her theme music gamely but failed to overwhelm the crowd noise, Astrid shimmied the jacket back on, flicked up the hood and strode from the arena without a backwards glance.
DEMETRIA ANDREWS:
As Ludacris' ‘Act A Fool’ began to pump through the Bangor Municipal Auditorium, Demetria Andrews made her appearance in the floor level entryway. The Brooklyn girl stood there for a moment, one strong leg before the other, hands on hips and an expression of disapproval bordering on disgust as she surveyed the crowd. The crowd showed a fair bit of disapproval right back at her, but it was hard to dislike the smooth ebony skin already almost glistening under the lights and the power packed frame perfectly filling her purple bikini top and boxing shorts. With a flip of her long dark hair, she started to saunter her way to the squared circle.
Andrews’ movements were almost primal, each stride exuding both supreme confidence and an undeniable sensuality. Reaching the ring, she pulled herself onto the apron and then between the ropes. Standing in the middle with her arms outstretched above her head, Demetria’s expression was one of utter confidence. Maine wasn’t New York and Bangor sure as hell wasn’t Brooklyn, but this was her house now and she’d stomp anyone who tried to step in on her turf. That included the foreign weirdo the Jungle front office had paired her with tonight. Eager to give the newbie a welcome she’d never forget, Andrews stomped to a corner on the far side of the ring and settled in against the buckles, scowling back at the entranceway.
“And her opponent, making her debut in this promotion. Hailing from Reykjavik, Iceland, standing at six feet one inch tall and weighing in at one hundred and thirty nine pounds, she is known as The Stranger and the Face of Fear… ASTRID WHITE!”
As the announcer said her name the house lights dipped loooow, leaving the arena in twilight-darkness as a series of odd, distant insectoid scratching noises played through the PA. After a few seconds the audience heard a sharp, female, intake of breath, immediately followed by the mournful low bass drone and opening tom-tom of Radiohead’s ‘Climbing Up The Walls’. The floor lights around the entrance lit up grey-green, illuminating a cloud of thick churning smoke which obscured the entire opening and gradually pulled back to reveal a figure, distorted by the low lighting to seem impossibly tall and slender.
ASTRID WHITE:
With perfect timing, the figure took a small step forward just as a pure white spotlight came down from overhead. This was enough to show the newcomer’s legs, long and toned with knee-high white muay thai boots and black boy-cut shorts, below a glimpse of tight abs and a white sheer-panelled halter over a modest chest. But the large hood of the waist-length black leather jacket obscured the upper half of her face. Printed in lurid green on the back of the jacket was a strange symbol, a stylised A with an eye in it’s centre, which gave the more knowledgeable fans a big clue about the figure’s identity. The figure continued her slow march, keeping perfect time with the spotlight and her entrance music until the first chorus began:
And either way you turn, I’ll be there
Open up your skull, I’ll be there
Climbing up the walls…
At this the figure stopped and a beaming smile slowly broadened across the visible lower half of her face. But by the end of these words the smile had vanished again and, still in time with the drums, her pace increased to a long and powerful stride which had her up the ring steps and onto the apron before the start of the second verse.
Just as Thom Yorke was telling the crowd that ‘It’s always best when the light is out’, the house lights flared back on, exactly as the figure rocked her head back so the hood fell away. As the crowd got the first proper sight of Astrid White she slowly turned her head to take them in, her grey-green eyes seeming to stare through each fan in turn as her chestnut hair swung wavy and loose down to the top of her neck . Then, in a single sudden gesture to acknowledge these people she raised her right hand to her face, palm outward and two fingers splayed so that her eye made the cross for a sideways ‘A’. Finally done with the elaborate entrance, Astrid shrugged the jacket from her shoulders, letting it pool on the floor by the ring steps, and slipped over the top rope into the ring, moving to stand erect in the nearby corner.
Judging from the crowd noise they weren’t really sure what to make of these theatrics, although the sight of the beautiful, long and lean brunette in the ring was enough to get a pretty positive reaction. But a scowl from the opposing corner made it clear that Andrews wasn’t similarly impressed. As the referee checked the newcomer, she marched out to the centre ring, apparently seething as the bell was rung. “Listen you beanpole freak, This is my house and I don’t like freakshows. Now get over here and take your whuppin.”
Astrid’s eyebrows raised slightly for a brief second, then dropped to neutral as she glided out from the corner and assumed an aggressive strikers stance, beginning to circle left towards the smaller woman. Demetria seemed surprised by the lack of verbal response but clearly decided she just didn’t care, storming straight towards her opponent and launching a huge right hook which swished harmlessly by as the taller woman swayed away. Andrews growled and pressed forward again, swinging a lead-off left jab with another hook cocked and ready to go. The jab was harmlessly swept aside, Astrid daintily stepping to her left to avoid the follow-up and then swinging her leg round to thwack two hard low kicks into Demetria’s thigh.
Demetria snarled and backed up. “You think you some sort of ninja, string bean? You’re meant to be a wrestler, f&$&£^% stand up for yourself.” Despite giving away almost a foot in height the smaller girl charged forward again and tried to go for a collar and elbow lock up. Astrid seemed to shake her head slightly, as if disappointed, but got her arms up to meet the onrushing fighter. Andrews’ speed was enough to push her back a few steps, but White’s height soon had her back to centre ring. However, instead of pushing on Astrid brought her left knee up and into the shorter girl’s stomach, then pushing it further up against her sternum and rotating left to break one half of the clinch. Demetria had barely recovered from the sudden move when Astrid stepped back, pulling the captured arm to its full length, jabbed a knee into the smaller girl’s armpit and fell sharply to her back, her knee smashing into the soft tissue and roughly jarring Andrews’ right shoulder.
Demetria barely had time to cough out ‘B!^£$’ before Astrid was up again, stepping over the captured limb and pulling it up into a standing armbar, then dropping to her knees to slam the injured shoulder down hard into the canvas. This process was repeated twice more, each eliciting a louder groan from Andrews. Her face still perfectly neutral, Astrid methodically stepped back and swung a quick soccer kick into the captured joint and then finally let go, sweeping back a few steps and falling back into her taekwondo stance, a arms spread wide and one set of fingers curling her to motion the prone girl back up.
And she didn’t have to wait. Demetria roared up off the mat, charging forward and swinging wildly. The shots had no more effect than her previous efforts, but apparently by chance one of Andrews’ wild elbows caught the meat of Astrid’s bicep, spinning her round so that her chest was wide open when the smaller girl’s forearm thwammed into it. Astrid moved to rotate away again, but the impact was enough to allow Demetria to wrap her thick arms into a waistlock. “Gotcha now B!^£$,” she snarled, ignoring the taller girl’s push on her hands and lifting her off her feet to slam back first into the turnbuckles. Demetria immediately went to work, thrusting her shoulder into Astrid’s torso as the ref began his count. Breaking at four, she stepped back and raised her hands to show the break, then CRACKED a slap that rotated Astrid’s still impassive face before the ref could even blink.
Astrid’s head slowly revolved back to her smirking opponent, her face still neutral but her grey-green stare seemingly dialled up several notches. Undeterred, Andrews reached up to take two handfuls of hair and, ignoring the referee’s protests, yanked her over into a snapmare. Astrid landed on her butt with a loud thump but had no time to react before Andrews smacked a hard kick into her spine. This finally brought a reaction out of Astrid, her face wincing in pain and a quiet hiss escaping her teeth. Andrews continued her assault, stepping around and in front of the beanpole and diving down to land with her knees either side of Astrid’s waist and her crotch buried into her belly. Astrid landed hard on her back as Andrews completed the full mount. Demetria pressed down on the skinny girl’s soulders, pouring her not inconsiderable power to try for a...
ONE...
And Astrid smoothly bridged up to roll a shoulder off the matt. Andrews didn’t mind that much, the bitch deserved a lot more than she’d gotten so far anyway.
“This is that whupping I was talking about, ho!” Astrid was just able to get her arms up into a guard as Andrews began raining down hammerfists, forearms and elbows. Usually this was a methodical process, the attacker looking for weaknesses and the defender trying to block as much as possible and look for a way to switch. But something about this newbie had clearly riled Demetria, and her anger poured into wild swings which would have been lethal if Astrid hadn’t absorbed almost everything in an easy guard. After thirty seconds Andrews was breathing heavy, the pace slowed to the point that she could tell she needed to change tack. And just as this thought crossed her mind, Astrid opened her elbows just a tiny bit, giving a glimpse of the face below. The skinny b!%^$ wasn’t just unharmed, she was actively smiling up at her. Andrews snarled and bore her body down onto the bigger girl’s, arms pushing her shoulders down again for another...
ONE
Astrid didn’t just kick out, she grasped her opponent’s arm again, bucked her hips and rolled her attacker clean off. Holding onto the arm she pulled hard, leaving Andrews face down as her opponent kneeled over her. Astrid rested one knee on the smaller girl’s shoulder, locked her other leg underneath and rolled back, flipping them both over to land in a shoulder slicer. Pulling back and bridging up with her hips, Astrid offered her first words of the match.
“It is time to talk about fear.”
Astrid had said this so quietly that even the ref was struggling to hear, but it apparently landed with Demetria. Struggling in the shoulderlock she snapped a quick “hell no” when stripes asked if she was ready to give up and managed to find some extra strength, rolling up on her shoulder and reaching over to grab at the captured arm. But Astrid seemed to be expecting this, using her opponent’s movement to pull both of them over onto their backs and then reaching her long arms down around the captured girl’s neck. Sitting back she cinched in a neck crank to go along with the arm trap. After a few seconds, with Demetria’s groans becoming a lot more urgent, Astrid decided to elaborate. “I do not mean any fear towards me. This may come in time. But I want to know what it is that makes you feel so angry, Demetria Andrews.”
Demetria pulled her free hand out from underneath her body and used it to push her torso up, wriggling her legs to drag herself towards the ropes. “uh…I ain’t scared of…nothing b!&%$, and the thing…makin’ me so angry is your skinny aAAAARGH”. White’s arms wrenched viciously, but her voice was almost as if musing to herself. “Do I make you angry because I represent success and novelty from a company which long since lost interest in you? Or do I remind you of your own more successful cousin and her moving on without you?” At the conclusion of this Astrid yanked back hard on the crank, but then again seemed to decide she’d had enough, releasing her limbs and standing back up with the same gesture as previously. This time Demetria was much slower to respond, taking a second to catch her breath on the mat and then gingerly standing up, noticeably avoiding any possible pressure on her abused left shoulder.
Despite this Demetria stuck to her only real tactic. Relying again on her strength, she bulled forwards, absorbing two more low kicks on her thigh as she came in. But this time the Stranger demonstrated a little more aggression, swinging up a toe kick which had the ebony grappler bending over hard. Astrid capitalised, grabbing a front facelock and swinging her body up to land on her back, spiking Andrews’ skull into the canvas with a flowing DDT.
Andrews slumped over, ring sense just reminding her to go on her front to avoid the potential pin. But Astrid again showed little interest in this. Instead she hung onto one arm and used it as a lever, pulling her own body up in a back somersault to end up with her legs lying across her downed opponents far arm. Then the Stranger showed a bit more of her fluid skill, using both tied up arms to roll back and flip Andrews up and onto her back with both arms locked in a crucifix and her head and body wide open to Astrid’s free arm.
Immediately it was apparent that the Icelander was a much more controlled striker than her wild-eyed opponent had been, Astrid eschewing rage and flurries for three pinpoint elbow strikes which crashed into the smaller woman’s temple. Demetria had no real way of covering up from this except turning her head, but the Stranger simply switched the point of attack, driving the elbow into the hurt shoulder and raising a nasty welt in the process. Then, as before, she just let go, moving around as Andrews rolled onto her knees an held her head, assuming she could justTHWACK! Astrid’s booted shin took her right across the face, the buzzsaw kick sending Andrews back to the canvas headfirst.
Through the fog in her head Demetria could hear the freaky b!^$£ talking again. “It becomes increasingly clear. You see a world which is beyond you. Which flies past as you try to grasp it. You fear for your own relevance. So stand up now, and let us try to find that again.” Message delivered, Astrid took two sweeping steps back. Andrews was utterly sick of this, but the volcano of rage which poured out earlier had melded into a burning desire to show this ho who she was messing with, so she decided to be a little more circumspect this time. Assuming a tight boxing stance she sidled forward, legs prepared for any more of those nasty low kicks.
Demetria Andrews might not have been the most feared fighter in the organisation but she had some mean boxing skills and plenty of KOs on her record. So it was surprising to the crowd that Astrid just let her come close. Indeed, she barely moved as Andrews faked high, slipped in low and then behind her in another waistlock. White’s only response was to murmur “you shouldn’t fear failure in comparison to others. There are more important things to be afraid of.” At this point Andrews was already as riled as she was likely to get, but her fighter’s instinct told her that taking a trip to the canvas right now would be a mistake. Instead she decided to light the b!&^% up, grabbing one of the prying arms, and flinging her off in an Irish whip then slamming a forearm into Astrid’s chest on the return. The taller girl staggered back into the ropes and came forward again, arms open as if inviting anothSMASH! Andrews left her feet and leaped forward, her forearm taking Astrid in the throat and sending her flying back to slump in the ropes with Demetria right up in her face. “Surprise, muthaf%”$£^$!” Demetria shouted as the brunette tried to extricate her arms and cover up. Andrews was suddenly in her element, pistoning several short uppercuts into the taut skin of her opponent’s midriff and then pancaking the brunette’s modest chest as the tall girl struggled to disentangle herself.
On the receiving end of some real punishment for the first time in the match, Astrid stayed typically calm. It had become apparent that her right arm was quite firmly stuck, which would make any kind of guard awkward. Instead Astrid decided to show off a little more innovation. She leaned back into the ropes and lifted both knees up hard, the left briefly covering her belly while the right lifted further into Andrews’ chin. The shot didn’t have much real power, but the tangled grappler made herself a lot more comfortable by kicking her leg out, bringing her considerable leg strength to bear and pushing her unbalanced opponent away. And this was all the invitation White needed to go back on the offensive.
Releasing her arm and rotating her body, Astrid threw a smooth side kick up into Demetria’s face. The shorter girl caught this flush in the jaw, rocking her back, but had the presence of mind to step back and bring up a guard. Although the Stranger’s next kick looked exactly the same it curved past this and then hooked back to catch the side of her face. Andrews spun away and took a few steps, looking for some space of her own. But she wasn’t about to get this easily. Astrid had decided it was time to stop being methodical about the shoulder and show off some of her arsenal. She used the ropes as a springboard and leaped out into her opponent, elbow cocked to smack into Demetria’s collar bone and she flew past. Andrews reeled back, and spun around juuuust fast enough to catch a huge boot to the jaw as Astrid rebounded with the Yakuza kick she called ‘White Heat’. Demetria spun again and landed on the mat in a groaning heap as her opponent skidded to a stop a few feet away. Astrid dropped fluidly to her knees, rolled the dark haired and glassy eyed beauty onto her back, and hooked a leg for...
ONE
TWO
THNO!
Andrews rolled her back off the matt and flopped to her side, breathing heavy. Astrid’s instinct was to go straight back to working the injured shoulder; she knew that a little more tenderisation would make Demetria ripe for an easy application of her finisher. But if this was going to be her only chance to sell herself as a big league player she needed to showcase more than just her fighting brain. As such she leaned down and grabbed her moaning opponent around the neck then lifted up, hauling Andrews to unsteady verticality. Moving quickly she tucked her own head under one of Demetria’s meaty arms whilst grasping the other and pulling it down between her legs, almost ready to go with the exploder suplex she called the ‘Fear of Heights’. White set her feet and braced to snap her opponent up and over, when Demetria slipped one hand out of the clutch and pushed hard on the tall girl’s sternum. The effect of this was to send Astrid reeling back, arms waving to keep her balance and her body ripe for another round of Andrews’ fists.
And Demetria didn’t need a second invitation, storming in and launching a huge forearm smash to the jaw which nearly had Astrid off her feet. Andrews thwammed home another elbow and then went back to work on her opponent’s reddening torso as the tall girl tried to cover up her face. But this wasn’t enough, the smaller girl’s onslaught forcing her back into a corner which Demetria was only to pleased to take advantage of. This time instead of throwing shoulders Demetria brought her knees into play, slamming three into Astrid’s stomach in queck succession to take the wind out of the newbie. But the final insult was the fourth, which landed way south of her tummy and solidly in the centre of her trunks. Astrid gasped as the blow hit home and dropped to her knees, thoughts of defending her face forgotten. And, just as she’d planned, Andrews took advantage of this to swing a closed-fisted one-two punch into her opponents’ temple.
Demetria was finally into a groove in this fight, strutting away and blowing imaginary smoke off her fists as the debutant stayed in the corner trying to clear her head. But this wasn’t helped when Andrews sprang off the ropes and bulleted back, dropping a corner cross body into the new girl’s face. Now looking to let the proper beating begin, Andrews stepped up of the brunette wreckage, sprang from the second turnbuckle and dropped down hard, driving all the wind from White’s belly and rocking her head back against the bottom buckle. Now finally heeding the ref’s increasingly whiney calls for a break, Andrews pulled grabbed her legs and hauled out of the corner, collecting them up for a tight matchbook as the ref counted...
ONE
TW…
And Astrid bucked back to shake off the pin. Undeterred Demetria grabbed two handfuls of chestnut hair and snarled “Time to go for a ride twiggy!”
Astrid felt herself yanked up and out of her corner, and then a pair of strong arms wrapped around her midsection. Despite the huge height difference it seemed that the smaller girl was going for a bearhug! Astrid felt herself being lifted off the floor, and in a detached way had to admire her opponent’s strength and guts to try this. But White was also aware that Demetria liked to use a bearhug brainbuster as a finisher, and whilst she was confident in being able to absorb anything Andrews could throw, she also felt that she’d let the crowd have enough jeopardy before the finish.
White’s arms were bound tight by the thick arms encircling her, and the close proximity gave no room to use her legs. She still had plenty of options, but Astrid first decided to use her charm. That smile spread across her face once more, and she made sure her opponent knew damn well it was there. Andrews had just started to growl a response when the brunette’s forehead smashed forward, the higher angle meaning the smaller girl had no choice but to rock her head back out of danger.
And at this point it became clear that Astrid had the situation in hand all along. Lowering her head into the suddenly open hollow below her opponents chin, White straightened her legs to the full extent, touched off the floor and bulled forwards, Demetria having no choice but to break the bearhug as her chin was pushed up and backwards by the Icelander’s crown. And the tables were truly turned when Astrid grasped one wildly flailing arm and tucked it tight between Andrews’ legs. “I have learned all I need from you, Demetria,” the Stranger purred as Andrews groaned and wriggled hard to escape. But this was to no avail as Astrid snapped her up and over to crash down on the back of her head, the ‘Fear of Heights’ finally catching up with her.
Astrid popped neatly back to her feet and took a few steps around the groaning ebony wreckage beside her. In normal circumstances she would be giving the battered girl a lecture on her own psychology at this stage, but somehow Demetria was so dull and obvious that Astrid didn’t really have the interest. Instead she simply took a few quick strides to the ropes and sprinted back, using the momentum to power her into a full length elbow drop into Demetria’s gulping tummy. Andrews sat up, unable to muster more than a low winded groan as White grabbed a handful of hair and hauled her back to verticality. Demetria rocked unsteadily, still shaking out the cobwebs, but she could sense danger coming at her from…
A knee threw up into the peak of Andrews’ chin. The close quarters again meant that Astrid wasn’t able to get the power on it that she might have wanted, but as Andrews’ head rocked the taller woman stepped back and created more than enough space. Still seeing stars, Demetria was pretty much defenceless when the first of White’s powerful side kicks flew hard into her forehead. Despite the fog she knew that her opponent liked to throw kicks in bunches so brought her arms into a rudimentary boxing guard which proved completely useless as Astrid hopped forward and opened her hips to send the crescent kick curving around her defences and crashing into her temple. Demetria’s eyes rolled back, but her instincts made her duck her head, hoping to at least go under any follow-up and buy a bit of space.
Unfortunately for her The Stranger had other ideas. Astrid decided to show off, her standing right foot hopping high off the canvas as her left described an arcing path around the dipping Andrews and then dropped out of the lights like a stooping falcon to crash her booted heel into the back of her opponent’s head. Demetria collapsed like her strings had been cut as Astrid landed lightly on her toes and the crowd let out a collective gasp, most of them having never seen the lethal leaping version of an axe kick before.
The calculating part of Astrid’s mind knew that she had just executed one of the riskiest and most visually impressive moves in all martial arts with near flawless precision. As such she maintained an exaggerated taekwondo stance for a few seconds, bouncing on her toes to deliver an Ali-like shuffle and make sure that spot made the highlight reel of the night. But another part of her brain knew that she’d got carried away. The leaping axe kick at the end of that sequence was enough to put much higher calibre opponents into semi-consiousness if she went for the head, and Astrid knew she’d got a very clean connection. Victory was now certain, not that it had ever been in doubt, but she knew she needed to be as impressive as possible in her debut, and a kayoed opponent meant she only really had one last chance to make her mark if she wanted to stay within the rules. Better not waste it.
Glaring at the referee, who’d gotten over his shock and was fussing around Andrews’ insensate form, Astrid swept forward and grasped her opponent in a loose front headlock. Getting absolutely no help from the obviously defenceless beauty, White pulled her up into a fireman’s carry then shifted her grip so that she held her opponent’s legs in a loose X. She briefly paused to flash the smile which had crossed her face during her entrance, turning 360 so all the arena could get a look. Then, once she heard the crowd’s buzz reach a certain point, she simultaneously swung Andrews’ body around, up off her shoulders and down, dropping to a seat as she did so to complete the cradle shock she called ‘Fear Itself’. The back of Demetria’s head and shoulders fell the full six feet and were then driven down into the canvas between Astrid’s thighs, White finally releasing her crossed legs so that the unconscious grappler sprawled out on her back. Rolling up onto her knees, and leaning down over her opponent, Astrid gathered Demetria’s hands and held them in place just below her breasts. “And that is what you should fear,” she murmured, more out of habit than any devastating psychological conclusion, as the crowd roar reached its loudest point of the night and the ref counted an academic…
ONE
TWO
THREE!
Neither wrestler moved a muscle during the count. The ref gestured to the timekeeper and stood up, waiting to raise the winner’s hand. Astrid held her pose for another few seconds, her face as impassive as ever and eyes staring out the hard camera opposite her. For a brief moment she felt disappointed; the girl was too stupid to be interesting and she had not been able to show off either of her signature submission moves and had a whole arsenal of close-combat tactics which must be saved for another day. But, if nothing else, she had at least got the crowd to shout louder than they had for the rest of the night.
Satisfied with that, Astrid she rolled back on her heels and stood to her full height, the ref having to reach up as he raised her left hand in victory. As he let go White let the hand fall and briefly feel her still slightly reddened abs, but raised her right, repeating her ‘A’ symbol over her eye and again panning her head to take in half of the arena. Then, without further ado, she slipped lightly through the ropes, dropped to the floor and collected the leather jacket which had been lying there throughout the match. As the chaotic later parts of her theme music gamely but failed to overwhelm the crowd noise, Astrid shimmied the jacket back on, flicked up the hood and strode from the arena without a backwards glance.