Cosmic Lightning - Toshimi Minami (D) vs Su Keqing

[Bare]

Standard Match: Winner declared by pinfall, submission, or knockout

Toshimi should have been happy. Not only was she having her return match in LAW, but it was also going to be her first match listed as an Apex Qualifier. Something that would give her the best way possible to show her abilities haven't waned with time, as well as be the first step for qualifying for the world title. But despite all of that the veteran wrestler felt insulted.

This big match for her return, that should have meant so many good things for her, was against a rookie. Minami had done her research and this so called Blazing Lightning Keqing had hardly any matches to her name, and of the ones she did have she was rather unimpressive. "Honestly what do I look like? Some easy going vet that will give this rooky a easy time? Tsk!" She said in irritation as she cracked her knuckles in frustration.

Dressed in her classic purple and yellow trimmed attire the Venus of Submissions walked too the gorilla position where she would flash a sharp look at the ring crew to let them know she was ready. Quickly nodding to the veteran the crew members would set about starting up her entrance music as the dark haired beauty made her entrance, the crowd roaring in appreciation as she did so. 'Well if nothing else the fans still remember me.' She thought to herself with a smirk as she strutted down the ramp, no nonsense in her walk as she approached the ring.

Hopping onto the ring apron Minami would climb the outside of the corner, throwing one leg over the top rope to anchor herself as she threw herself backwards, posing for the audience who gave another big pop. Pulling herself back up to a vertical base Minami would then leap forward, somersaulting into the ring before getting into a standing position. Turning and bending her knees she would wait patiently for her opponent to come down, eager to get this bout started and ended as soon as possible...

Spoiler

[pu-level-up]

Getting put into an Apex qualifier match this early into her career came as a huge surprise to Keqing. The tournament was meant to determine the best wrestler in LAW after all, and though Keqing didn't think she was officially a part of it, getting put into the qualifier match basically meant that she had a shot. This was something the Chinese rookie couldn't afford to blow, as it was something of a "one-step to fame" kind of opportunity.

Especially considering who her opponent was. Toshimi Minami was something of a legend in wrestling circles. Even someone from a younger generation like Keqing knew of the Joint-Lock Queen. She was one of, if not the, best submissions expert of Wrestle Angels. Being put up against such an opponent would seem like an insurmountable challenge to any other rookie, but to Keqing this was her opportunity. If she could take out this legend, then it would shake up the entire wrestling world and put her on everybody's radar!

And so while her opponent was completely dismissive of this whole affair, Keqing was quite excited. As she waited in the gorilla position to make her entrance, she bounced on her feet, nervous energy coursing throughout her body. Peeking out, she saw Toshimi make her entrance, walking down the ramp as cool as ever, before getting into the ring and awaiting her opponent.

Now it was her turn. Keqing stepped out onto the ramp as her music played over the speakers. The crowd didn't give her nearly as much appreciation as they gave her opponent, but that was to be expected from a relatively unknown rookie compared with a seasoned veteran. Keqing knew all the odds were stacked against her this match. But that just gave her more determination and fired her up. She moved down the ramp quickly, neither showboating nor crowd-pleasing as she made her way to the ring. Tonight, her only focus was her opponent.

Spoiler

After making her way into the ring, Keqing climbed in between the top and middle ropes. She stood facing Toshimi for a moment, a little unsure of how to address her opponent. Though Toshimi was a tiny bit shorter and looked to be even a shade smaller than Keqing, she had quite the imposing presence.

Keqing wouldn't allow herself to be intimidated though. She stepped into the center of the ring, offering out her hand. "Let's have a good match!" she said simply, keeping her voice strong and firm.

[Bare]

As the music of her opponent began playing Minami looked up almost in a reluctant way. Not out of fear or anything of the sort though. In fact the veteran's expression was one of total and utter boredom as she looked up at the purple haired girl making her way down the ramp and too the ring. 'Typical.' The woman though to herself with a roll of her eyes as she analyzed the girl known as Keqing as she made her way into the ring. Nothing about her appearance or personality truly standing out to Minami as the woman just crossed her arms in disappointment.

However despite the harsh and critical look on Minami's face it didn't seem to deter her younger opponent who eagerly approached her with a hand extended and exuberant greeting not far behind. Looking down to the offered hand then back up to the girl the look of disdain on Minami's face was palpable, bordering on exuding as she stepped closer, raising her hand up, looking as if she was going to accept the handshake...

Only for Minami to suddenly change tactics! Rather than shake Keqing's hand Minami swung her hand down, smacking it against the girl's and knocking it away! "Fool." Minami said before swinging her hand up and at a angle, smacking the back of her hand against the girl's cheek for a sudden back hand smack to her! "Rookie Mistake Number One. Never expect you're opponent will play fair, so don't give an opportunity to exploit." Minami said in a lecturing tone, her hands coming to rest on her hips. "Including hand shakes." She added in as she waited to see how her opponent would respond.

[pu-level-up]

Getting her hand slapped away wasn't much of a surprise for Keqing. She could tell just from looking at Toshimi that the veteran did not see her as an equal, but rather someone so far beneath her that she should only be treated with disdain. The attitude rubbed Keqing the wrong way, but it just gave her more motivation to show her how wrong she was by beating some respect into her.

What did surprise Keqing was the follow-up. Her face snapped aside, a burning streak flashing across her cheek as Toshimi gave her a painful and completely disrespectful backhand slap! The Chinese athlete blinked in surprise. Her hand reached up to her cheek, gently touching the burning spot where Toshimi struck with her fingertips, while the veteran verbally berated her and gave her a lesson.

Keqing took a deep breath and turned back to face her opponent. She was furious, but remained in control. "Duly noted," Keqing said, nodding as she learnt her lesson. No need to play nice with Toshimi, the veteran obviously came here to make an example of her, so it was up to Keqing to make sure that didn't happen!

The rookie faced down the veteran, raising her arms in a fighting stance and getting ready to fight. "Well, let's get started then!" Keqing said. Even if Toshimi didn't want to play fair, that didn't mean Keqing wouldn't. But her guards were up now, and she wasn't going to let Toshimi do something like that again if she could help it.

[Bare]

"Hmph." Was all Minami said as the girl in front of her nodded at the berating before backing off a few paces to await the official start of the match. Dismissive as she was Minami would at least admit one thing about Keqing so far. 'She can at least take criticism.' Thought the older woman while staring the violet haired young woman down with not an ounce of worry on her face.

Ding Ding

As the bell rang and hearing Keqing's dedicated response Minami would.... do nothing. Standing there with hands on her hips the only movement the woman made was to lift one arm up to cover her yawn. "Awww." She said before refocusing on Keqing. "Well?Unless you're scared than come at me. Prove you're not as much as a weakling as I'm expecting you to be." Minami said in a bored and dismissive tone. As if she had already won the match and was just taking care of some formalities.

But true to her words she was waiting for Keqing to make the first move. Not because she wanted to let the girl show off however, but rather strategy. After all the girl was clearly frustrated and short on patience, so continuing to press that while baiting her was the best call in Minami's book. It would be a easy counter into one of her signature submissions and Minami was sure of it. In fact she was fairly certain that she could get in Venus Di Milo right off the bat and win within minutes, but doing so meant that she wouldn't get this match to count as a qualifier. So for now it was just play time.

[pu-level-up]

Keqing didn't know what to expect when the match began. Maybe the veteran would immediately launch into an attack to try and overwhelm her with skill and technique, ending this match quickly to save her the time and effort of fighting. Or maybe Toshimi would start things slow, engage in a few moves to test out her skill and get a feel for her opponent. What she didn't expect was for Toshimi to stand there and do absolutely nothing, not even getting into a fighting stance to defend herself. Did she see Keqing as that far beneath her?

Toshimi's words confirmed that was exactly the case. Keqing was infuriated, her face twitching in anger. But she told herself to stay calm. "Getting you all riled up is exactly what she wants, so stay calm!" Keqing thought. She couldn't let herself get sucked into her opponent's rhythm. But with Toshimi not attacking, it was up to Keqing to make the first move.

The Chinese athlete had an idea though. She moved forward, arms outstretched, seemingly looking like she wanted to grapple with Toshimi. This was a challenge that the veteran couldn't back down from, after all, she was known for her grappling technique and her submissions. If she did anything but meet the challenge offered by the rookie, it would be quite the blemish upon her honor.

And that was what Keqing was banking on. For when Toshimi moved forward to lock up, she would immediately reach out to grab Toshimi's hands before throwing one leg forward, hoping to catch the veteran with a hard knee right to the gut! Keqing didn't have honor to worry about, so she wasn't offering a fair challenge from the start! She hoped that hit would knock the wind out of Toshimi and give to her the initiative in this match!

[Bare]

Minami smirked ever so slightly, only discernible by the slight up turn of the corners of her lips as she stared Keqing down. In a odd way she somewhat enjoyed messing with rookies such as her. Both because it provoked them and made them sloppy, but also because on rare occasions, the indignation would motivate some... proper brutality from the young wrestlers.

Currently it was too early to tell how Minami's words would affect the overall outcome of this match. However one thing was for certain, and that was that Keqing was definitely pissed off. 'But she isn't giving into it. Not bad.' The veteran thought to herself, noting the more purposeful movements of the girl across from her and how despite the furious expression on her face she was trying to control her fury and in doing so find perhaps the one avenue that would prompt a reaction other than boredom from the older woman.

That being a test of strength. Narrowing her eyes slightly at seeing this Minami knew off the bat that she would have to accept it. Mostly because she'd be damned if she was made to look weak by attack or taking advantage of Keqing's position as a result. After all she was revered as one of the top submission experts in the world. Like hell she would be outdone even in a small way!

But as she locked up Minami knew that this was a trap. After all, as she mentioned she was one of the best technicians around, even a total rookie wouldn't dare challenge her to such a contest unless they had a death wish.. or a plan. So just as expected Minami felt a knee connecting with her stomach! "Ngh!" Grunting softly from the impact and bending over a result Minami refused to allow the girl in front of her to have the satisfaction of a full on scream of pain.

Minami however wasn't without a response of her own. So despite the knee the dark haired woman would dart forward, pressing her shoulder against Keqing's body. As she did so she would swing her leg up straight up while curling it in, intending to smack her foot into Keqing's head with a scorpion kick as revenge for the knee shot!

Spoiler

[pu-level-up]

Baiting Toshimi into a trap was the easy part, for Keqing to find a way to properly take advantage after the fact and not get schooled by the veteran was going to be the difficult bit. Keqing knew she had to rely on her strengths to even stand a chance this match. So when the locked up, the Chinese girl fired off her knee as fast as she could to catch Toshimi off guard. After all, the veteran had to know that this was a trap.

Feeling her knee bury into Toshimi's gut, Keqing felt a boost of confidence. Maybe she had caught the veteran off guard? That hope was quickly dashed though, as Toshimi drove her shoulder against her gut and threw a scorpion kick up at Keqing's face! Keqing had no time to react, and no room to dodge. She did lower her head slightly though, to take the hit on the top of her head instead of directly to the face.

"Nngh!" Keqing grunted as she was forced to tank the blow. Toshimi was skilled in all forms of wrestling, and not just submissions, it seemed. The kick knocked Keqing off balance and forced her to take a few steps back. But that was intentional, as Keqing knew staying in Toshimi's grappling range was suicide. This was to get a bit more space so she could fire off her next attack.

"Hah!" As Keqing straightened up she fired off a kick as quickly as possible, hoping to catch Toshimi on her side before her opponent could close the distance and lock in a grapple. If luring her into a trap wouldn't give Keqing the element of surprise, then perhaps counterattacking faster than the veteran expected would!

[Bare]

Minami would at least give credit to Keqing for her trap. It was efficient and against someone on her skill level it would have led to a potentially great lead. An admirable attempt if Minami thought so herself. But one that would be ultimately futile against her in the long run. After all Minami was far from being on Keqing's skill level.

So darting forward and swinging her leg up Minami managed to catch Keqing with some payback of her own, landing a vicious kick against the girl's head that sent her stumbling back away from her. Standing up fully as she did so the Wrestle Angels Veteran would watch her movements carefully. Limbs half tensed she waited, like a predator about to lash at its prey, fully knowing the mindset of a hungry rookie Minami expected a attack as soon as the girl was able.

With her instincts being proven correct the dark haired woman watched as Keqing came charging back in, swinging her leg up as she did so, trying to aim a kick at Minami's side! Narrowing her eyes from this Minami would reach down, grabbing at her opponent's incoming leg with a tight grip. "Nice try." Minami said before dropping down and twisting her side in the process, pulling on Keqing's leg as she did so to land a dragon screw on the girl and send her leg crashing into the mat!

[pu-level-up]

Now it was Keqing's turn to fall into a trap. The rookie thought she could get the jump on Toshimi with a rapid kick to the side, counterattacking before even she was fully prepared to strike. The kick landed home, but instead of knocking the veteran over Toshimi tanked the hit and grabbed Keqing's leg. Had she fired off the kick when she was fully ready, it might have actually taken out the veteran. At least Keqing would have reacted fast enough to not have her leg caught. But she made a mistake, and now she was going to get punished for it.

"No!" Keqing gasped, trying and failing to pull her leg out of Toshimi's grasp, "Uwah!" Her world spun around as Toshimi executed her dragon screw, sweeping Keqing off her feet and making her land with a loud thud on her front on the mats!

Though she hit the mats hard, Keqing didn't let the pain stun her. She knew she was in big trouble if Toshimi took advantage of this position to lock in some kind of submission hold. Desperately, she used her other now freed leg to kick back, hoping to catch Toshimi somewhere painful to make her let go so she could scramble away and get back to her feet!