Alicia Goon 040: Vegemite

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Descriptions of blood and extreme violence

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It felt nice to do the stalking for once as Black Violet scrambled to her hands and feet. Alicia raised her hockey stick high and swung it down like an ax at the back of her tormentor's knee. As if on instinct, Black Violet rolled out of harm's way at the last possible moment, sparing herself another crippling blow. A split-second later, she was up like a flash and slingshotting back off the ropes at the challenger still recovering from the wild overhead swing. The tape didn't do Black Violet justice. Even with a solid blow to the kneecap, she had enough speed for a baseball slide between Alicia's legs.

Just as Alicia thought to turn around, two cold, sticky hands clawed their way up her face toward her eye sockets. She grit her teeth and stuck to the gameplan: don't waste energy fighting Black Violet's unbreakable grip. Instead, Alicia slammed the blade of her stick against her captor's left shin and dragged the wooden blade straight down the bone. The sudden pain bought Alicia enough time to shift her head a few inches to the side. Although not much, it offered a few seconds respite from the cracked yellow talons digging into her cheeks and eyelids.

Alicia slammed the blade of the stick into the same shin and once again scraped the wounded flesh. Rather than loosen her grip, Black Violet leapt onto Alicia's back, forcing the challenger to bear her attacker's entire weight. The former hockey player dropped her stick, reached back and grabbed a handful of greasy, matted hair in her right hand, wrapped her left arm around Black Violet's leg, and took two unsteady steps toward the corner. 

With a signature burst of power, Alicia threw herself and her passenger out of the ring through the top and middle ropes. There was enough momentum to partially roll in midair and position Black Violet to take the worst of the fall. A split-second after hearing and feeling all the wind rush from the champion's lungs, Alicia felt her own left shoulder smack into the barely padded concrete. 

The ponytailed referee still in the ring started her count, "One! Two!"

Black Violet lay flat on her back, wheeze-coughing between soggy gasps for air. This was a chance. Alicia got to her feet and reached into her gym bag's side pocket. Her fingers and thumb slipped into place as she withdrew a pair of cast-iron fabric scissors Zack used for making his renfaire getups. 

"Three! Fou-" The referee stopped the count as soon as Alicia crouched at Black Violet's feet and secured a grip on her right ankle. 

Alicia plunged the blades between Black Violet's ragged shoelaces. The material was durable enough to slow Alicia down as she cut her way through the filthy, crisscrossed laces all the way to the top. With the laces completely severed, the mismatched wrestling shoe on Black Violet's right foot visibly loosened. The champion started to struggle, but Alicia couldn't afford to let her get away. She grabbed Black Violet's left ankle and stood up, then swung a hard toe kick into the back of her left knee--the same knee that felt the kiss of a hockey stick moments earlier--coaxing enough compliance out of Black Violet to allow Alicia to roll her onto her belly.

Alicia dropped onto the small of her opponent's back in a seated position and pulled Black Violet's left leg into a Single-leg Boston Crab. Rather than torque back on the captured leg, Alicia instead pulled her opponent's foot into place and secured a tight grip. Black Violet struggled to catch her breath as the challenger wedged the scissors between the laces of the champion's left wrestling shoe and got to work. One at a time, the laces gave way as the special-purpose scissors chewed through the material, but there wasn't enough time to finish the job. 

Alicia yelped as Black Violet bucked her onto the floor. No! Don't lose track of her! Alicia rolled onto her back just in time to see a pair of mismatched wrestling shoes and bloodstained hospital scrubs speed past and instinctively tightened her grip on the scissors as she felt something determined and powerful trying to tug them away. One more yank, and Alicia and the crowd gasped in unison as Black Violet took control of the scissors. 

Alicia rolled to the side a split-second before the scissors slammed into the floor where her head had been. Another blur of motion sped past as Alicia pushed up to all fours. Black Violet sprang from the floor to the apron and up to the top turnbuckle with uncanny grace. Much less so when she leapt off, scissors clutched tight in both hands. Hungry black eyes and a slick, bloodstained mouthful of spikes descended upon the grounded competitor.

"AAAAALLLLLLLIIIIIIIIICCCCIIIIIIIAAAAAA!!" 

Every instinct screamed full-volume at Alicia to get out of the way, scramble under the ring, and look for something heavy to hit Black Violet with--but that wasn't the gameplan. She instead shot from the ground, threw both arms out wide, and caught her screeching assailant in a bearhug. Genuine confusion registered on Black Violet's sallow, painted features as she dangled inches from the floor while Alicia crushed the air out of her. That momentary shock turned to violent resistance, and Alicia struggled to maintain her grip as her rabid opponent flailed at her back with the scissors.

Rather than let go, Alicia charged toward the ringpost with a full head of steam, plowing Black Violet's back into the steel. The impact stunned the champ long enough for Alicia to transition the bearhug into a front waistlock. She dropped low, popped her hips, and threw her weight backwards, sending Black Violet sailing overhead with a Belly-to-belly Suplex. Alicia knew as soon as she hit the floor, it would be a race to get back to her feet. Just as she got to her knees, that unbreakable grip latched onto her left braid and yanked her head back hard enough to cause whiplash. Something struck Alicia in the forehead, and then something warm ran down the bridge of her nose. 

Alicia gazed up at Black Violet's painted, weeping expression that somehow looked both pale and dark silhouetted against the arena lights. Clutched tight in her bony hand were those cast iron scissors, which she again gouged into Alicia's exposed forehead. Although Alicia hadn't felt the first cut to draw blood, she really felt the second. The unforgiving metal scuffed open the flesh as it tore another angry wound into her forehead, eliciting a scream of agony from the trapped challenger as a trail of blood rolled down her temple and cheek. A third vicious stab ripped open a hole just above Alicia's right eyebrow, and the resulting fountain of claret temporarily forced her eye shut as it poured down her face and onto her white and yellow hockey jersey.

An earsplitting screech preceded a fourth plunge of the scissors that grew even louder when Alicia grabbed Black Violet's wrist and held it tight. Seemingly determined to turn Alicia's forehead into burger, the scissor-wielding Mother of Nightmares bared her fangs and bent closer to snap at Alicia's fingers. The challenger tried to pull her hand away from those snapping, eager jaws, and Black Violet leaned closer. Alicia held Black Violet's wrist tight in both hands as she rose to her feet and charged the ringpost, judo flipping the ghost of Plunj Arena over her shoulder and headfirst into the steel. The champion went down in a heap, clutching her wounded skull as the scissors clattered to the floor beside her.

The referee once again started her count. "One! Two! Three! Four!" 

The scissors lay on the ground within arm's reach, so Alicia reached. With blood pouring down her face and the bloody tailor's implement clutched tight in her hand, she looked every bit as deranged as the the woman who stabbed her. Alicia leapt onto her downed opponent's back and snatched her left ankle. Rather than work on Black Violet's injured left knee, she secured a formidable grip around that ankle and slipped one of the scissor blades under the remaining uncut portions of Black Violet's shoelaces. Come on, come on! Alicia shouted internally as her tool snagged just short of the finish line on a Gordian facsimile of a bow. She repositioned the scissors for the final cut when a sharp tug on the back of her jersey nearly threw her off. Snip. A smile spread across Alicia's face as she crossed off another step of the plan.

She changed her grip on the scissors and swiped at her literal hanger-on's arm. Despite impaling only the air, the threat of a clean hit made Black Violet let go of Alicia's jersey. Instead, a surge of disproportionate strength threw Alicia face-first to the floor hard enough that she only just broke her fall with her forearms--all that front bump training paid off. 

Black Violet scrambled clear to regroup. Alicia had lost the chance to stay on her, but maybe she traded it for an opportunity, if she was quick. Black Violet rose to her hands and knees to a spider crawl away, but a sudden tug on the champion's left leg got her attention. Alicia lunged with both arms outstretched, using every inch of her six-foot-three stature to wrap her fingers around the red, worn-through heel of her wriggling opponent's shoe. Black Violet met the annoyance with violence. She cocked back her right leg and kicked Alicia again and again in the face as the bloody wrestler tried to keep her head down and crawl forward while maintaining a tight grip on her stalker's left ankle.

Kicks struck Alicia's head like raindrops that hurt like the dickens, turning the trickle of blood dripping onto the floor into a steady stream. She rose to her feet and yanked Black Violet up off the floor by one leg to flip her onto her back. Unphased by the landing, the howling, furious champ resumed kicking at her captor. Left knee flush to the back of her right knee. Release the left foot with your right hand, step over. Keep turning… One of the kicks nearly sent Alicia sprawling, but she had already stepped into place. She dropped backwards onto the floor and poured on the pressure. Black Violet threw her head back and howled like a rusty door in a storm.

Alicia took the opportunity not to be hoist upon her own scissors and cast the horrible, her-own-blood-soaked shears aside. Back to the matter at hand--so to speak. She clamped two large, powerful hands around the loosened wrestling footwear to a surprising amount of resistance. The Mother of Nightmares wore her shoes tight. One, two, three, four quick wrenches and Alicia pulled the worn, moldy shoe free, overwhelming her senses with a scent of vinegar and hot summer roadkill. Eau de trenchfoot. Yellow, splintered toenails tipped the foulest appendage Alicia ever beheld. She reeled at the stench of success wafting from Black Violet's gangly bare left foot and flung the cursed object into the crowd. Forgive me.

Black Violet used her powerful arms to roll herself over, forcing Alicia to break the hold to avoid having the submission reversed. Both competitors scrambled to their feet, but Black Violet was up first. Like a flash, she ensnared Alicia's right hand and pulled the challenger up and into a Short-arm Clothesline that sent her right back down to the floor.

Black Violet maintained her grip and once again yanked Alicia to her feet and then off them, effortlessly lifting Alicia's muscular 193-pound frame up onto her shoulders. Black Violet took three steps towards the steel guardrail and dropped the challenger onto it, content to let gravity do the rest. Despite managing to get her hands and arms up, Alicia's skull bounced off the steel on the way to the floor. The pounding headache was enough on its own without the ringing in her ears. Her aching muscles screamed for mercy as she pressed up off the floor while a growing puddle formed on the floor beneath her as blood streamed from multiple gaping wounds across her forehead. The attack seemed to relent for a moment. 

That probably wasn't a good sign. 

Alicia turned her stiff neck and plummeted into a bloodshot void. Piranha grin. A porcelain white complexion weeping purple warpaint. A vinyl torture chamber of hooks. Black Violet yanked her prey closer by a fistful of hair. Shadow descended as the feral champion lifted the body bag into position above her struggling captive. She wanted to give Alicia a hood.

Rather than fight the unassailable grip around her braid, Alicia threw her head back and drove a sharp headbutt into the champion's nose. Another quick shot to the point of the nose landed flush, and Black Violet's unbreakable grip seemed to loosen. Alicia dragged herself away from her opponent and up to her feet, racing toward a security guard seated at the corner where two guardrails met. 

"Move! I'm taking this!" she shouted as she waved off the bearded security guard with one hand before throwing him off with two. Alicia grabbed the chair, lifted it, and turned. "MMmmffphhh!" she protested, doubling over as a wrestling shoe buried itself in her stomach.

The chair clattered to the floor as Black Violet pulled Alicia into a side headlock. In one fluid motion, Black Violet leapt onto the barricade and then off, using her momentum to spin Alicia headfirst down onto the steel chair with a Tornado DDT. The challenger's skull hit the steel with a noise closer to a splat than a clang. The wiped-out challenger rolled off of the chair, staring through glassy eyes at a starburst-patterned bloodstain on the seat. Her forehead throbbed, and ached, and pounded, and each thought hurt worse than the last.

"One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Si-"

Alicia rolled onto her side and tried to gather herself up to all fours. Black Violet did it for her.

With one hand around Alicia's throat and the other hooked under her arm, Black Violet dragged her to something approaching upright, gathered momentum, and slung her shoulder-first into the steel ring steps. The TV Champion turned and stalked toward the bloodstained chair with a slightly lopsided gait. Gnarled fingers closed around the steel. Black Violet loomed over her victim with a diabolical glint in her eye and a face masked in sinister implication.

Things were no longer going according to plan.