Walker (Lambda) vs. Zak (Delta) - Pt. 1 tonywrestles2

It was too bad, Walker mused, that there wasn't a light-heavyweight championship, because this would probably be it. He went through his final in-ring warmups and stole a couple of glances across the ring at Zak.

The truth was, Walker would have liked to have made a run at the championship, but there were two things stopping him, both having to do with Buzz, the current champ. First, Buzz was the president of Walker's frat, and you didn't challenge your frat's president without a real good reason.

Second, Buzz was bigger than Walker. A LOT bigger. And Walker was good, but Buzz was one of the best on campus. In a straight-up, one-on-one fight, Walker wouldn't have a chance.

So, fighting for the title was out. Walker would fight for honor, but those fights weren't going to happen in a ring with a bunch of guys with camcorders taping the whole thing. That left fighting for fun. And when Walker had heard that Zak wanted to scrap with him for a while, he'd thought, why not? There were worse ways of killing a half-hour besides spending it wrapped around Zak.

Besides, after that craziness Monday night, things had been tense. Blake and Kurt were letting their fight spill over into day-to-day stuff, and every other guy on campus had been drafted into keeping them apart before things got really out of hand and the Dean of Students and Campus Security got involved. After the brawl over that European guy, the frats had been warned to keep the heavy-duty stuff private, or else.

Hopefully, with the semester ending in a couple of weeks, Blake and Kurt would go home and cool off for a month, and things would get back to normal. Meanwhile, it was time for him and Zak to give the guys a good show.....

With some fringe benefits, Walker thought with a grin.

As the bell sounded, the two men leaped into a collar and elbow tie-up. Walker got his feet under him first, and forced Zak back until his back was touching the ropes. Brett, the referee for this match, called for a clean break, and both wrestlers complied.

Zak went for another lockup, but Walker ducked under Zak's outstretched arms, seized his left wrist, and twisted Zak's arm behind his back. Zak countered immediately by dropping to his knees, reaching back, and snapping Walker over his shoulder and down to the mat. Zak seized Walker's chin in his two hands and began to pull back, but Walker twisted out of the hold and re-established the hammerlock, forcing Zak onto his stomach.

Zak ignored his protesting shoulder and concentrated on getting to his feet. He pushed off the mat and ended up on all fours. Then on his knees. Then on one knee. And, finally, on his feet.

The next thirty seconds were a flurry of activity. Zak twisted out of the hammerlock and applied one of his own, but Walker immediately reached down and between his legs, grabbed Zak's ankle, and yanked. Zak went down, losing the hammerlock, but with his left foot, he pushed Walker away and into the ropes. Walker bounced back, and Zak, by this time on his feet, armdragged Walker down to the mat and slapped on an armbar.Walker grunted in pain as Zak bent his arm against the joint. He rolled to his feet and pushed on Zak's chin with his free hand. No luck. Thinking quickly, Walker bent and twisted and tossed Zak over his hip down to the mat, but Zak kept the hold and Walker found himself tumbling to the mat with him, his arm still trapped in Zak's grip.

Time for a new plan, Walker decided. He got back to his feet, but this time nailed Zak right in the jaw with a forearm smash that broke the hold and sent Zak down to the mat. While Zak climbed back to his feet, Walker rubbed his sore arm and tried to get some feeling back into it.

As Zak approached him, Walker held out his hand. Zak started in surprise, and cautiously extended his own. The two men clasped hands, and, to Blake's surprise and the consternation of the crowd, neither sucker-punched the other. The wrestlers released their grips and began to circle, looking for another opening.

Walker shot in with a single leg takedown that sent Zak down hard to the mat, and leaped to his feet with Zak's foot still in his hands. Walker quickly circled around his prone opponent until his feet straddled Zak's head, and then yanked hard on Zak's foot. Zak clutched his suddenly-stretched hamstring in pain and tried to roll to his side, but Walker wasn't having any; he grabbed Zak's foot again, and applied a textbook stepover toehold. He leaned forward, exerting as much pressure as he could on Zak's knee and shin.

But Walker leaned in a little too far, and Zak grabbed his head and forced him down to the mat. With his leg free from Walker's grasp, Zak attacked Walker's legs, wrapping them in a minicrab and forcing Walker's feet high up onto his back. For good measure, Zak softened up Walker's back muscles with three hard elbows dead center.

Walker tried to kick his way free, but it was his quads against Zak's entire body weight--no contest. His only hope lay in reaching the ropes. He stretched his body as far as he could, but the promised land lay just a fingernail's width out of reach. He tried crawling farther, but Zak sensed the attempt and dragged Walker back to the center of the mat.

With his knees about to blow and no escape in sight, Walker took the only course left. Loudly and clearly, he shouted, "I give, Zak! I give!"

Zak released the hold and rolled to his feet. He stood over his fallen opponent while Walker slowly regained the strength in his legs. Zak offered his hand, which Walker gratefully accepted, and Zak hauled the blonde back to his feet. With a playful swat to the side of Walker's head, Zak made his way back to his corner to await the second fall.

Walker resisted the urge to nurse his sore back and legs in the interval between falls--no way was he going to do anything that even remotely smacked of weakness. Not that anyone else wouldn't want to do the exact same thing, but it was the principle.

When the bell rang, the two men leaped at each other and tied up. Walker quickly ducked behind Zak and applied a full nelson, which Zak just as quickly reversed, but Walker sent Zak over his hip and had a Japanese armbar ready and waiting as soon as Zak landed. A forearm to Zak's stomach lessened the resistance.

But not entirely--Zak still had plenty of fight left in him. He worked his way up to his knees, managed to get Walker's right arm away from the rest of his body, and then dropped his knees down on top of it. Zak slid his arms around Walker's head in a front half-nelson, but Walker slipped his hand between Zak's legs and lifted him up and over to land flat on his back.

Walker whirled on his knees while Zak rolled onto his, and the two men faced each other. Zak was faster, and had his hands through Walker's arms and pressing down on his neck before Walker could react. The two men struggled to their feet, and Zak, still holding the reverse full-nelson, backed Walker into the ropes. Instead of a clean break, however, Zak slammed his forearm across Walker's chest.The blow woke Walker up. He let Zak apply a loose headlock and drag him back into the center of the ring, then broke the hold and sent his fist shooting up into Zak's jaw that sent the party boy staggering back and down onto the second rope. "Come on, get up!" Walker challenged. Zak complied, but Walker grabbed him and hiptossed him down to the mat. He then moved around to Zak's legs and grabbed his right one in a legbar.

Zak wasn't so easily beaten, however, and he kicked his free leg directly into Walker's face. As Walker fell back on his rear, Zak moved behind him and drove his elbow down into Walker's forehead. Walker collapsed and rolled onto his stomach, and Zak pounded his back and neck with heavy fists.

Dazed and weakening fast, Walker took the only change he could. He launched himself forward and tackled the surprised Zak and brought them down to the mat. Walker landed on top and drove his fist deep into Zak's side. The first five rows clearly heard the WHOOOSH! of the air being driven from Zak's body.

Walker threw his legs back, then dropped him squarely on Zak's abs. And again! Zak clutched at his middle in pain and curled into a fetal position. Which was exactly what Walker had been waiting for. He scissored Zak's head, leaned forward, grabbed his legs, and then leaned back, wrapping Zak into a small, pain-filled package.

It was too much. Zak screamed a garbled submission, and Walker released his hold on Zak's legs. He gently disengaged himself from Zak's aching body, and stood ready to help his opponent to the mat, returning the favor of the previous fall.

One fall apiece. One to go.

As the third fall started, Zak offered a handshake, which Walker immediately accepted. The two men raised their arms, and the crowd responded with wild cheers in appreciation of the terrific show the two had put on.

Then it was back to business. As Zak charged in, Walker wrapped his arms around the Delta man's muscular torso and began to squeeze (note from the author--I'd already planned that, honest!). But Walker had neglected to pin Zak's arms in the bearhug, and Zak whacked him across the face with a forearm that broke the hold and planted Walker on his rear. Zak brought him back to his feet by the ears and clamped on a front facelock, then rolled backwards and slammed Walker's back into the mat.

Both men climbed shakily to their feet. Walker charged forward, shoulder first, taking Zak by surprise and bulling him into the corner. Then Walker slid his arms under Zak's, twisted his body, and threw Zak halfway across the ring. He brought Zak back up to his feet and slapped on a front facelock while he tried to decide what to do next.

But, as the adage goes, he who hesitates gets a knee right in the gut. Zak slipped both his arms underneath Walker's and clasped his hands around the back of Walker's neck. He bulled Walker into the corner, released the hold, and chopped him across the chest hard enough for the sound to carry into the balcony and for Walker's sweat to spray the third row.

Zak reapplied the facelock and brought Walker back to the center of the ring, but Walker twisted out of it and managed to get Zak's arm bent behind his back in the process. Walker dropped low, yanked Zak's legs out from under him, and interlaced them into a minicrab.

Zak tried to push his body off the mat, but two Walker elbows in his back convinced him that a change in tactics was in order. He seized the ropes in one hand, and Brett ordered Walker to break the hold.

The two men wearily climbed to their feet. Zak sprang at Walker, but Walker somehow found the strength to catch Zak in mid-air, adjust his body, and then drop him spinefirst across his knee. Zak rolled over in agony, but Walker was almost spent as well. On their knees the two exhausted warriors closed for one last exchange.

Zak fired a right hook that landed squarely in Walker's abs, but Walker responded with a right cross to the jaw that knocked the other man back. Pulling himself to his feet by sheer willpower, Walker grabbed one of Zak's limp legs, stepped over it, and rolled him into a half-Boston crab.

Zak weakly tried to kick out, but he knew he was beat. He tapped the mat to let Brett know that he was ready to call it quits.

As soon as Brett told him that Zak had tapped out, Walker released the half-crab and collapsed to the mat, utterly spent. It took several long seconds before he was able to drag his weary, sweat-soaked body to its feet for Brett to raise his arm in victory. In the time it took him to do so, Zak had only managed to get to his hands and knees, and he was stretching his back out to try to work out the soreness.

Walker helped his defeated opponent to his feet, and the two men embraced in the center of the ring, to the thunderous cheers of the crowd. Yeah, Walker thought, there were definitely worse ways of killing a half hour than spending it wrapped around somebody like Zak--and apparently, Zak felt the same about Walker.

"My room, later?" Walker whispered. Zak flushed, then grinned and nodded. Half-supporting each other, the two made their way back to the dressing room; the crowd parted to give them a respectful and respectable path.

******************************************

But Walker's good mood wasn't fated to last long. Buzz was waiting for him at the frat house when he got back. "Great match, guy," Buzz complimented him. "You really gutted it out, especially towards the end. Did us all damn proud."

"Thanks," Walker said, "but man, is Zak tough.""You have any other matches set up before finals?" Buzz asked.

"Nope. Free as a bird." Walker started to climb the stairs to his room.

"Well," Buzz said, "it don't matter anyway, because Eric's got a tag match next week and finals are the week after that. It'll have to wait until next semester. How early are you comin' back?"

Walker stopped in his tracks, and turned to face Buzz. "Why, and what's Eric got to do with anything?" he demanded.

"Well," Buzz said, actually blushing, "Blake and I decided to make a little bet. One of our guys against one of theirs. We picked names out of a hat and, sorry, guy, but your name came up."

"Against ERIC?" Walker blurted. At the top of the stairs, Bruce came out of his room, saw what was going on, and in a rare moment of wisdom, went right back in again.

"Buzz, are you nuts? Eric's easily fifteen pounds heavier than me, and he's one of the best on campus! Put me against Roger and I'd whip his ass in under a minute, but.....Eric???"

Buzz shook his head. "You're gonna have to do your best, that's all. The bet's already been made, and I can't go back on it."

"You can't, but I sure as hell can! I don't believe you, first you chew all of us out for not telling you about Bruce and Brian, and now you're making deals behind my back without telling me!"

The blush was gone from Buzz's face, and so was the conciliatory grin. "I'm the president of this frat, man," he growled angrily. "That means that I own your ass. So if I make a bet involving you, you damn well make sure that I win it!"

Walker stepped back, intimidated by Buzz's sudden fury. "Fine, fine, okay," he grumbled. "What are the stakes?"

That brought the blush back to Buzz's cheeks. "Actually.....uh.....you guys are. Winner's frat gets the loser for a month."

When Zak arrived some time later, he found a very angry, and very thoughtful, Walker.