Burn!

This was a bad idea. Valley knew it was a bad idea. But she was going to do it, anyway.

As Friction started to wind down to the last few fights of the night, Separate Ways suddenly blared out over the loudspeakers, followed by the usual chorus of boos. Valley almost felt like she was tarnishing the song by rolling with it, like some of her stink was rubbing off on Journey. Those boos weren't the good kind of heat. They weren't the reaction from an audience that saw her as a heel and hated what she did, though that was part of it. Valley was starting to suspect this audience just didn't want to see her. At all. Didn't want to see the blonde white girl with the big mouth lose another match. Didn't want to see her sulk out of the ring again. She was unwanted, and that stung harder than any of the beatings she'd taken.

The boos only intensified as she came out from the back, along with a few chants she couldn't understand and didn't care to try translating. She was dressed for the street, with her usual blue jeans, a black shirt with Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon album cover on the front, her shimmering hair bouncing along with every step towards the ring. She wasn't dressed for a match, and one reason for that was because she didn't have anything to dress in - Morrigan shredded her outfit, the outfit she'd been wearing for ten years, and left her to leave the ring naked. But regardless, she wasn't coming out to wrestle. She had things to say, and one person she wanted to say them to.

Valley took a microphone from the announcer's table and slid into the ring as the audience started to calm enough for her to speak. Eyes focused towards the entrance, she stood in the middle of the ring, a serene look on her face. Perfect poise."Ace. Haley. I know you're here tonight, and I know you can hear this. Come on out, we need to talk." She lowered the microphone, then brought it back up after a couple of seconds. "Please."

Haley frowned as she watched Valley on the monitor backstage. She had been in the arena that day, doing some promotional stuff the company required its champions to do. Signing posters to be sold to fans, signing programs, taking pictures with a few fans that got the expensive backstage passes, so on and so forth, all the while watching the show on a monitor.

It was late in the show, when a representative from merchandising was discussing a possible Silver Ace T-Shirt, something that was filling Ace with adorable glee, when she heard her name coming from the monitor, looking at it and realizing that Valley was calling her out.

It took a couple minutes, but Valley's request was granted when Haley's new music, Journey's "Edge of the Moment", her new theme music, began playing, the Entropy Champion, belt on her shoulder, came out onto the entrance ramp, clad in her favorite Rush shirt and black jeans with tennis shoes. It was kind of ironic, she thought, that she used a song by the new version of Journey with Arnel Pineda's vocals, while Valley used a classic Steve Perry Journey song. There was a metaphor there somewhere, if someone thought about it.

She made her way down the ramp, getting a mixed reaction that was more cheers than boo's this time, Ace having won portions of the crowd over bit by bit over the last few months, impressing them with her endurance, determination, and skill. It wasn't everyone yet, but she was getting there.

Entering the ring, Ace moved over to the side of the ring and got a microphone from the announcers before moving to face her ex girlfriend, looking over at the older woman, holding the microphone up and taking a few moments, honestly not sure what to say, or what the older woman could want.

"...Alright Valley...I'm here. What is it?"

She asked wondering if it could possibly be for a challenge of some kind. She doubted it though, having seen the girls recent matches...given her record, Ace didn't think Valley was feeling confident enough to challenge a champion.

Even with everything that had happened, all the things they'd said, the months apart and not saying a single word to each other, Valley still had to fight the urge to just embrace Haley in front of everyone. She almost wondered if she should try it. Would Haley just come back to her? Could it be that easy?

She held back and managed to keep a stoic, even expression, reign those emotions in and remember the plan. She'd said these words to herself dozens of times, had it down to rehearsed speech, but it still wasn't easy. Not with her right there, looking at her like that.

"Before I say anything, I just want to say...congratulations." She nodded and stared into Haley's hazel eyes, looking deep. "Your match with Lady Lakota was one of the greatest I've ever seen. You were an amazing competitor and you fought harder for that belt than anyone else who's ever worn it. You deserve to be the Entropy Champion."

Valley tucked the microphone under her arm and started to clap, and the audience joined along with her, giving Haley a well-earned ovation.

Ace didn't want to blush. She really didn't want too. Blushing would just look bad, make it look like Valley's praise had an effect. They didn't. They totally didn't.

She blushed.

Fuck.


She took a step back, surprised and taken off guard by the slow clap, Ace's fans in the audience clapping along, though several people in the vast crowd of AFW fans didn't, no doubt wishing Lakota had won.

It didn't last long, less than half a minute, but it still sent a chill down the girls back. Less than a year since her debut match, and here she was now, title in hand, fans clapping for her. No wonder girls like Taylor and Natalia and Akashi seemed as full of themselves as Ace thought, they always had the entire crowd behind them, 100 percent, every time. Ace was only getting maybe half that, at best, and it was nearly overwhelming!

Shaking her head, Ace turned back to Valley. That her Ex had praised her like that was another surprise, especially since she claimed in their last talk that Ace couldn't make it without her.

Raising the mic, Ace stammered, correcting herself as she replied.

"T-tha....Thanks...I umm...I appreciate that...But you must have wanted me out here for more than that, right?"

She asked, wondering just what that reason was.

Good Lord, Valley had almost forgotten how cute Haley was when she blushed. The urge to hug her was almost instinctive.

She nodded as the crowd started to die down, impressed by the sheer number Haley was drawing in. She couldn't see the signs, and while she was worse at reading Japanese than she was at speaking it, Valley could see quite a few banners with the kanji for 'silver' in them.

"I know I said a lot of things about you the last time we really talked. I said you weren't good. I said you couldn't help yourself." There went the boos again. She ignored them, even though she'd earned each and every one. "I was wrong. I admit that. I was wrong about everything I said..."

She raised up an index finger and her gaze hardened. She only had one inch on Haley's height, but it was enough to look down on her. "Except for one thing. And I think you can guess was that one thing is."

Ah. There it was. Ace knew there was something.

Ace held up a hand, stopping Valley.

"Hold on. I know what your talking about...but these people don't, and since you decided air some of our dirty laundry in public again, let me fill them in."

She side, taking a few steps near the ropes. Not the most polite gesture, but since Val liked to take stuff between them and put it too the public, Ace might as well do the same.

"So as many of you know, Valley and I were once an item. You know this because, despite my attempt to just let you see us as a student-mentor tag team, The blonde here and that sumo everybody loves just haaaad to go announcing our post Summer Splash break up in front of everybody. Thanks for that, really. I mean, between that and giving out my name to everybody. Whats next, you gonna give all of them my address too?"

Ace looked at Valley for that one. It was a shot, and probably an unfair one at that, but in Ace's mind it wasn't entirely unjustified.

Ace had her fun, but liked keeping the fans out of it. She made sure the most affection her and Val ever shared in the ring was just simple flirting that didn't extend past their first match, and understandable concern when one of them was hurt. She couldn't hide it from the other wrestlers of course, but hadn't counted on any of them blabbing it until Valley caused the sumo to do so.

"So here's what she's getting at. After we lost in that...disaster of a tag match at Summer Splash, Valley and I got into a couple arguments, where she basically said I was no good, that I needed to be protected by her, and that I was so irresponsible that I came to America without american money or means of transportation, which is why I had to walk back to our hotel in the rain for 2 hours after our match."

Ace turned and looked at the blonde, the crowd curious as to where this was going.

"Of course, she forgot the little details involved in all of that. That getting hurt is a way of life in this job, that you can hit a bad streak, then turn your luck around, that I put up damn good fights against opponents way bigger or more skilled than I was."

"....That she herself decided that, being from america, she would handle the money side of things, that I'm too young to rent a car in that country, and, most of all, that she's the one that took the car, not too mention our tickets for the flight back, and left me there."

She said, emphasizing the last few words, causing most in the crowd to chuckle, though a few, who already didn't like the american, booed her.

"But the big thing she forgot, was that in our first match together, I beat her. I made her tap out, right in the middle of the ring. The point of all this, if your wondering, is that when I brought that up, Valley here claimed that she threw the fight. She wasn't really trying! It was just pretend! It was...foreplay, as she put it. Sure, I was fighting as hard as I could, but Valley is just so great that she was just playing the whole time."

Ace frowned, stepping closer to Valley.

"So my guess is that this "one thing" she's talking about is that Valley here...think's she's better than me."

Ace finished, breathing a little heavily. She had a bad habit of getting over emotional at times, true, but that.....that needed to be said.

Haley's reply was harsher than Valley would have liked, but expected. People needed to be caught up on things or none of this would have made any senses. That was one of the disadvantages that 'fake wrestling' didn't share with organizations like the AFW. Not everything was on camera, and most of the drama happened away from the audience.

She did have one thing she wanted to address before she went on. "Haley." She poured a little bass into her voice. "I apologize for the thing with Akashi, that wasn't a good moment. But, at the same time, you're a public figure. What's more, you're a champion in the Information Age. Sooner or later, people were going to find out. Even when I was with the Slamazons, people couldn't keep stuff like that secret for long, and that was a much smaller operation. But, again - sorry."

She stepped back and leaned against the ropes, looking Haley up and down. She seemed different, somehow. More mature than she was the last time they were this close. Or maybe she hadn't changed at all, and Valley was just really looking at her for the first time.

"That's not quite the way I put it, but that's the gist. I think I can beat you, Ace. I can take you in a real, serious match, and I want the chance to prove it."

Val brought up a good point, much as Ace didn't want to admit it.

Still, that wasn't important now. The challenge though, now that was interesting.

Ace scoffed a little, crossing her arms and smirking a little.

"Really? You know, you've got funny timing. It's been what...4 months? 4 months since you ditched me in America, and without a single word since...but now that I'm Entropy Champion, you just up and decided that you want another match against me?"

Ace stopped, shaking her finger and grinning.

"Ohhh...I get it...very clever...you show up now, because you want to goad me into making you my first title defense, meaning you would be able to pick whatever match type you wanted against me....nice try."

"But come on now. I've seen your matches. I've been on a roll since we've split, while you...well....haven't."

She said bluntly. She could have gone about if she wanted, but she didn't want to stoop that low. They had said hurtful things to each other last time, and now that they were face to face, Ace didn't feel like saying more. Though a small jab wouldn't be too bad...

"So sorry to spoil your plan to get this title for yourself, but I'm gonna have to say no to that."

The crowd booed, having expected the champion to accept, though Ace raised a hand and silenced the crowd after a moment.

"Now though....if you really think you can take me on in a real, serious match, no title, no playing, no throwing the towel, no "foreplay"....then...I accept."

Valley thought she'd done a decent job of keeping her cool so far, maintaining a cool and controlled demeanor throughout this little meaning and approaching it in a controlled and approachable manner. But Haley's last comment pushed things a little too far.

Her brow furrowed. Lips curled into a sneer. Fist clenched tight around the microphone. It was rare for genuine anger to seep into her routine, but this would do it. "Do you really think that little of me?" She moved some hairs out of her face so Haley could see the entire look. "I don't care about the title. I wasn't even going to ask you to put it on the line. I don't expect a title shot, and I wouldn't accept one if you gave it to me. Titles are politics, and I've got enough problems without a belt that paints a bullseye on my back."

She stepped back and held up her hands, palms facing out. "This is about respect. And just to prove I'm all about what I said, I say we make it a match we used to do at Slamazons - Total Victory. Best two out three falls. First by pinfall. Second by submission. Final - if it goes that far - by knockout." She stuck her hand out for the shake. "Sound good?"

Judging from the roar of the audience, they approved.

Ace didn't say anything for about half a minute, appearing to think about it, before she stuck her hand out and shook Valley's hand, getting another cheer from the crowd.

"Sounds great to me. It'll be worth it to finally get the respect you never showed me before. But Val..."

Ace stepped a bit closer, still holding her hand.

"I'm not going easy on you. I've only gotten better since our last match, and I'll be coming at you as hard as I can. I'm going to put you down, and I'm putting Slamazons down with you..."Champ""