Lacey Whitman [D] vs. Reiko Masuda

[CaptainL]

Lacey had to admit it - Reiko was putting forth a valiant effort. She could feel the muscles in her back straining against the force with which Reiko pulled back at her head, bending her spine into an arc, and she wasn't sure how much more she could take. Her teeth gnashed and her eyes began to water with pain, even as her fingers dug into the mat with a white-knuckled grip. But she was still making her way toward the ropes, slowly but surely. They were coming closer and closer by the moment; if she could keep that up, freedom could be hers! At long last, between Lacey's desperate pursuit of the ropes and the effort with which she pried at the arm holding her head, she was able to loosen Reiko's grip - and once she felt the pressure lighten, she would give a shake of her hips to try and roll Reiko off of her!

If that worked, Lacey would quickly roll herself up to a seated position. She panted for breath, her brow dripping with sweat after all the exertion and effort she had put herself through. She had to reach a hand behind her, rubbing at her sore muscles, and she shuddered where she felt the knots that Reiko had left in her back. But even through it all, she looked back toward Reiko - and a smile came to even her tired face. "Nice...job..." she panted, raising a thumbs-up to the Young Lioness.

However, at the same time, it wasn't lost on Lacey that she was now closer to the ropes. Even if Reiko had let go before she'd reached them, she was still a little closer - and that brought a smile to her face. She didn't feel like getting back on her feet so soon, but then, if she could get the ropes, she could use them to pick herself back up. Not just that, she could also use that altitude to her advantage, launching an attack more in her style!

Lacey would throw her weight backward, attempting to tuck herself into a roll to close in on the ropes. If she made it there, she'd reach to take hold of the middle one, using it to hoist herself higher, and getting her foot on the bottom rope. If that worked, she would spring herself toward Reiko, kicking her leg out to try and hit her with a flying kick to the jaw!

[Kookio]

Reiko tried her absolute best to keep the hold, but there were too many factors in Lacey's favor that lead to the Young Lioness to be kicked off, her body rolling to the side before she quickly rolled to her feet in a crouched position, sweat coming from her brow and breathing heavily. Despite being the one doing the submission hold, Reiko had obviously taken a bit of a stamina drain to keep the hold for as long as she did.

Watching Lacey roll to a sitting position up but not getting up because she was still in pain, she sighed in relief. She thought that Lacey would have been able to immediately get back up after the hold, but she was thankful she was wrong and believed she still had the advantage. That being said, Reiko also did not have the stamina to immediately stand back up, so the two would just sit there for a few moments staring at each other.

"O-Oh! Thank you!" Reiko replied with an unusual amount of shyness while her cheeks flushed a bit red. "That move isn't usually a part of my moveset. I just learned it from one of my brothers. Hehe~" she finished her last statement off with an embarrassed chuckle while rubbing the back of her head.

She would then notice that Lacey was using the ropes to pull herself up. Uh oh. Reiko knew she couldn't let that happen, so she would push herself to get up as well albeit slower than Lacey because she was using her own strength to pull herself up. When she had managed to get to her feet, Lacey was already climbing onto the bottom rope. Then, when Reiko sprinted towards her opponent to stop her, the whole world spontaneously went black for Reiko.

It turned out that instead of of hitting Reiko in the jaw, Lacey's kick had managed to hit Reiko right in the temple for massive amount of damage and causing the Young Lioness' body to slam into the floor. Instead of writhing in pain like she usually did, her body was limp for a little bit, her body sprawled out on her stomach on the mat as the crowd cheered at the stylish move. Thankfully she wasn't greatly injured, and would make this known by letting out a small groan of pain once she recovered a little. But the kick obviously had a lot of force behind it that instantly switched the momentum of the match.

[CaptainL]

Both girls had quite a bit of strain weighing on them - Lacey from being twisted in Reiko's hold, and Reiko from trying to hold onto her opponent even as she struggled valiantly to fight her off and crawl her way to the ropes. In the end, both of them had fallen to the mat, and both of them would need to catch their breaths before they were ready to get back into the fray. But Lacey did have one thing to her advantage. When she had fallen, she'd fallen just a little bit closer to the ropes - and that was something she could use! As she rolled her way to safety and pulled herself back up, a smile crossed her face at the thought that she'd be able to make a comeback after all. When she saw that Reiko had accepted her praise, that only made her smile wider. Even if they were opponents, they could still respect one anothers' skills, and they weren't afraid to engage in some friendly banter. Reiko was already seeming like Lacey's kind of person...but that didn't mean she was going to hold back!

Just then, the green-haired girl grabbed for the ropes to pull herself higher, hoisting herself ont the bottom rope. Reiko had gotten up too, chasing after Lacey - but by then, it was too late. The Young Lioness had only delivered herself straight into the path of her opponent's next blow, as Lacey came flying toward her foot-first!

She went down with a crack. Lacey followed soon after, rolling to her knees. When she saw how hard Reiko had fallen, and how she'd gone silent, she briefly stopped and held her hand to her mouth, covering a gasp. She did, after all, respect Reiko, and even if she was still trying to win, for a moment, the worry that she'd accidentally left her opponent seriously hurt flashed through her brain. When she saw Reiko begin to twitch, she let out a sigh of relief - but she would just as soon push herself back up to her feet, closing in on the fallen girl.

The smirk returned to Lacey's face as she looked down at her handiwork. Dusting off her hands, she recognized that she was the one who had been at Reiko's mercy with a submission hold before. Now that Reiko was the one who had gone down, the tables had turned! "All right...my turn!~" she cheered. Wasting no time, Lacey dropped down on top of Reiko's back, reaching behind her to grab for her legs, and pulling them over her back to lock in the Boston crab! "Let's see how you handle this one..."

[Kookio]

Even though Reiko had some semblance of consciousness returning to her, the talking around her sounded muffled, and the room was spinning like she was in some sort of bad amusement park ride. She'd look around the room with empty eyes, not comprehending what is going on in the slightest and leaving herself perfectly open to her opponent to perform her submission hold on the young lioness!

While Lacey had to lean back further than what she normally had to for these types of submission moves thanks to Reiko's natural flexibility as a former gymnast, she would still get the reaction out of Reiko that she had wanted to hear from her.

The feeling of her back unnaturally bending while trapped underneath Lacey's weight instantly snapped Reiko back to reality as she would let out a loud cry of agony, her hand reaching back and attempting to grab onto her opponent's arm in a desperation attempt to pull her off of her. "Ahhhhh! L-Let go!" she screamed, her hand that was not attempting to grab onto Lacey's arm was gripping her one forehead in a poor attempt in trying to control the excruciatingly painful stinging sensation running through her body.

[CaptainL]

Lacey hadn't known Reiko for long, and she hadn't had the chance to sit down and get to know her face to face, but she was already starting to get an impression of what to expect from the Young Lioness. As a former gymnast herself, it didn't take long for Lacey to notice that Reiko had plenty of training in the same discipline - she'd recognize the grace and refinement in her leaps and bounds anywhere. Coupled with the hold she had just executed, and how she had brought her body into position to set it up, the newcomer was starting to realize how Reiko was probably just as flexible as she was swift. When she grabbed her by the legs and rolled her into the Boston crab, Lacey was looking to test that! If she was going to keep pushing Reiko further in the name of elevating her to her level, she wanted to see how well she could withstand holds. And this would give her something to try and escape from!

Giving a sharp yank backward on Reiko's legs, Lacey rocked from side to side with her hips, in the process pressing her weight down even more firmly into Reiko's spine - and no doubt straining her back further. She could feel Reiko start to shift beneath her, and how she had begun to drag herself across the mat, but she wouldn't let go. Even if Reiko had managed to grab hold of Lacey's arm, her grasp tightening around the green-haired girl's wrist, Lacey would only double down on her own efforts, giving a tug at one leg and then the other. She could feel the tug against her arm, and she was sure Reiko would be able to free herself eventually - but until then, she wanted to see what her limits were, and to deal as much damage as she could!

"Now, I'm sure you can do better than that!" Lacey's words weren't those of mockery - even if Reiko was her opponent, she was happy to cheer her on all the same. She really did want Reiko to amp things up, both to test her skills and to make things even more enjoyable for the fans! "Remember, I'm not gonna go easy on you, so give me your best shot!"

[Kookio]

Ironically enough, Reiko was never good with being put into submission holds. In fact, she was terrible with them. It was the main reason why her brothers always won their play wrestling matches. That weakness of hers was being shown on full display as Reiko would be able to make very little progress to get her opponent off of her. Instead, she continued to let out her cries of agony, not giving up, but not making a lot of progress either.

The referee had to step in and question if Reiko was going to give up twice. Both times, Reiko shook her head and told the staff member no. If her opponent kept the hold for a very long time, it wouldn’t be until a whole few minutes of being held in where Reiko managed to finally figure out a clunky strategy to get herself moving, her arm attempting to pull the two of them towards the ropes at a similar pace as Lacey’s attempt to get out of her hold earlier.

[CaptainL]

It seemed as though Lacey might have underestimated her opponent when it came to how well Reiko could withstand submission holds. When she heard the screams of pain coming from the Young Lioness, for a moment, the smirk on her face fell into a frown, and she looked back at her opponent with concern. Maybe she had gone a little too far. But she wasn't going to let up, either. Maybe, she thought, showing Reiko where she could improve would be just as much use to her as letting her demonstrate what she was good at. And maybe, even if she couldn't power through or reverse the hold, Reiko would be so motivated by the pain and pressure to find some other way out. Lacey wanted to see what she could wring out of her in the face of danger!

But, sure enough, Reiko managed to adapt after all! She reached out to grab the canvas in front of her, dragging herself and her opponent across the ring! Lacey's eyes grew wider as she saw the ropes come closer and closer with each lunge the blonde made. With how much Reiko had already endured, she couldn't help but worry if her body was going to give out before she made it far enough. But whether through morbid curiosity or a genuine interest in seeing what Reiko was capable of, she kept herself in place - up until Reiko at last came into range of the ropes, grabbing on for a rope break!

The referee commanded Lacey to let go, and she did so, stepping off of Reiko's back and to the side. There, she stopped to catch her breath, bending inward at the knees as she leaned closer. "Whew...okay. You're determined, I see! I'm impressed. You, uh, sure you're okay to keep going, though..?" Even if she was still trying to win, Lacey didn't want Reiko to hurt herself if this kept up!

[Kookio]

Reiko's gradual movement before grabbing onto the ropes felt like torture to the girl, her back was in so much pain now. All because she had completely forgotten about the ropes. She would need a moment, not getting up even after her opponent had gotten off of her at first, she panted heavily, a hand on her back. When the question was brought to her of whether she could continue or not, she began to move again, using the ropes as support to pull herself up and lean against them while looking at her opponent.

"O-Oh yeah. Of course!" she replied breathlessly, not knowing if she was going to be able to get momentum back for a bit. It seemed like the two went from even, to Lacey had a big advantage over the Young Lioness all of a sudden because of that move. "I-I usually always get stuck in submission holds...~" she said a bit more awkwardly than usual. She knew about her huge weakness to submission holds, it was most likely one of the two main reasons why she was kept as a Young Lioness despite being relatively good in nearly every other category.

Even though she knew she was probably going to lose this match because of the hold, she didn't want Lacey to lose her steam. So she wouldn't give Lacey much of a moment to think about it. Once her back had recovered enough, she would climb up onto the middle rope and attempt to leap off of it towards her opponent to attempt to body slam the girl. It was a simple high-flying move, but effective and it would be enough to keep Lacey from wanting to stop the match even if she missed.

[CaptainL]

Lacey had no idea that withstanding submission holds was a weak point for Reiko. It seemed that even though she had proven unexpectedly skilled at dishing them out, it was a different story when it came to taking them. For a moment, she bit the inside of her cheek as a frown came to her face - she hoped she hadn't gone too hard on the girl. The state she was in now certainly left Lacey shuddering, and when Reiko explained her weakness, a sense of dread came over her - like she had just done something wrong. "Ah, s-sorry..! I didn't realize..." Lacey began. Still, even when her voice was choked from soreness and lack of breath, Reiko still seemed as cheerful as ever - she wasn't about to let this keep her down. Lacey had to smile to that. As she was quickly discovering, one of Reiko's greatest assets was her commitment, courage, and determination, and she was showing that in spades!

In fact, Reiko was showing that just now - despite the pressure she had just been under, she was already throwing herself back into the match! She grabbed hold of the ropes, pulling herself higher, as she prepared to hurl herself back into her opponent! Lacey let out a gasp when she saw how quickly her opponent had recovered, and so too did many of the fans. But even as Reiko was closing in, Lacey's eyes narrowed in focus. If Reiko was that resilient...she'd just have to put it to the test!

She quickly reached out with both arms, bending her back in an arc to try and duck under Reiko's impending collision while gathering momentum at the same time. If she could, she would try and grab around the Young Lioness's sides just before she struck, where she would then try to roll over and kick off the ground to slam Reiko into the mat instead!

[Kookio]

"N-No! Don't worry! Don't go easy on me because of my weaknesses!" she replied, starting to panic a little when she saw that the girl was getting a bit self-conscious. She was starting to think that Lacey would purposefully avoid using submission holds because of her weaknesses which would not only make the win she would get extremely hollow, but also make her feel guilty about as well. She was adoring Lacey's similar upbeat and friendly nature. To Reiko, this was a perfect match for her, and that last thing she wanted was to have it ruined because of herself. So without thinking, she wanted to stop Lacey from thinking about it anymore by charging her.

Admittedly though, in her panic, the charge was reckless and predictable. That allowed Lacey to easily slip beneath her attempted grab while also being reckless enough that it took the Flexible flyer to stop herself. She would feel something wrap around her stomach, but before she could compute what was going on, her vision turned, and her feet were lifted off of the ground until she came down with a loud "SLAM"! her body hitting the mat. "GYAK!" she grunted loudly as her back had hit the mat underneath her opponent, leaving her head full static while a searing pain ran through her her back.