Yuki Kazikura vs. Angelina Tarrant

[CaptainL]

Yuki had Angelina under control. This was it; she knew it! Her teeth ground together into a grimace, her jaw tense from the sheer determination that held her body rigid. She straightened her spine, her knuckles going white as her fingers flexed around her opponent's joint, and the muscles in her back pulled taut. Angelina fought against the pressure as though with the throes of a dying animal, with every motion she made causing her to slam her face and body into the mat. Yuki shuddered, wincing at the thought of how desperate Angelina had to be to flail so violently in her face of her hold - but surrender, it seemed, wasn't an option in her mind. She would rather tear her own body apart than give in to Yuki!

Eventually, her sheer foolhardiness and self-destructive behavior grew to worry the raven-haired girl, who winced as a shudder ran through her body. "Angelina! Just tap out, you'll hurt yourself-!" she cried, less to taunt her and more out of concern that she would only make things worse for herself. But she reminded herself that, if Angelina was burning the candle from both ends, sooner or later, she would run out of wax. She just needed to wait things out until she couldn't fight any longer.

But before that happened, Angelina's weight suddenly dropped away. Yuki looked down with a gasp, finding herself holding her empty boot in her hand, as the redhead rolled away from her! Everything seemed to slow to a crawl as Yuki stared at the boot in her hand. She would never have seen this coming, but just what was Angelina doing now? One thought set into the Japanese girl's mind, and it was that, now more than ever, she realized she could never predict what her opponent's plan was.

It was Angelina's voice that caught Yuki's attention now. She looked back up - where she saw her coming careening across the ring toward her, her leg swinging in an arc straight for her skull! Her fingers went slack and she dropped the boot as her jaw hung open in a gape. Yuki knew that if she was merely a split-second off in her reaction time, she was doomed to take the full brunt of an attack that would almost certainly take her out. If she was going to act, she needed to act now - and she ducked down, letting Angelina's kick pass by overhead.

But it still landed with the sound of a crack. For a moment, Yuki froze. Her eyes were shut in anticipation of the impact - had she been too slow? Had it still hit her? Did she simply psyche herself into imagining the blow, in all her anticipation?

Slowly, she blinked her eyes open and looked up. And there, she saw that the referee, who had moved in closer to check Angelina, was passed out on the mat. Angelina's blow had missed its mark - but it had gone by Yuki, and hit the ref instead!

She froze. The color seemed to drain away from her face as she stared blankly back at Angelina, and her whole body locked up. Yuki hadn't seen any of this coming. She was sure that when the referee woke up, there would be hell to pay. But none of that mattered now - now, the future seemed eons away. Now, she was staring down an Angelina Tarrant who had no oversight, no regulations as to what she could do to her. And she was caught dead in the crosshairs, with no idea of how to react!

[Monsy]

Tap sooner; fight another day.

That was the smarter thing to do. Constant voices in the back of her head told the same exact thing. It’s so easy. Lift that hand. Not even the hand, just four fingers, touch the canvas thrice and the pain will stop. That pissed her off more than anything. She wasn’t here to avoid getting hurt; to give herself half-beaten and unbroken. Pain and injuries are nothing but temporary; losing was permanent. A number on her record; a scar that would eat her alive. Two opposing colossal yearns locked horns; added with Yuki’s call to surrender, and the crowd’s chant for it too… 

Only by escaping did she negate having to cave to any side but her own.

It was but a pain-dulled haze, throwing herself towards the corner and rocketing off to deliver a showtime kick to, not Yuki, but the official’s face! Angelina rolled and came back to her feet. The reality didn’t sink in just yet. She took one step towards Yuki, but the bite in her ankle forced a temporary stop. “Angelina, just tap out, you’ll hurt yourself…” Angelina lifted a brow, stuck out her tongue and rocked her head to mock their warning in a childish tone. Then she took another step on that foot. Her face tightened up, and she growled through it. “Fuck you AND your pity.”

This woman had a penchant for pulling on something deep. They’ve done just about everything right and Angelina matched toe-to-toe until this point. Now she was faltering, without a weakness to prod and a blatant disadvantage of her own. It was that which pissed her off so much more. Not being outdone, but the nerve to ask her to quit before she gave everything. Did they hold back? Were they giving just as much as she was? Did she finally find someone to truly punch up against? Nagging thoughts, so many anxieties stabbed at once, only to fall adrift the instant she found the referee downed. Her eyes slowly drifted up towards Yuki. She inhaled sharp, held as her gaze steeled into tunnels and she walked with a zombie-limp, faster and faster. “If it means not losing to a cowardly, dork-bitch like you…”

Then she erupted into a sprint. “I will gladly take a snapped ankle! Now, fuckin’ die!”

She jumped with her booted foot, her fist cocked back and thrust. Five knuckles, steeled and ready to kill themselves against the soft flesh of Yuki’s throat.

[CaptainL]

In that one moment, everything in Yuki had frozen up. Her muscles were stiff and paralyzed with shock, and her eyes were wide and glassy, fixed unmovingly on the woman steadily stalking toward her. Everything should have worked. She had Angelina taken almost to the brink of submission, and her efforts to free herself were doing as much harm to herself as Yuki was. Even if she did get out, there was no way she was going to last long. But now, not only had Angelina freed herself from the hold, but she had gone straight into a powerful rebound that sent the referee toppling like a stack of dominoes. And now she had her sights set on Yuki - who was left with no one who could protect her!

Angelina's movements were slow and labored. She was limping. By all means, Yuki should have been able to strike back at her, and in her state, it should have been especially effective. But she didn't. In Yuki's mind, she was face to face with a woman who seemed invincible. If she had already recovered from the ankle lock and the sleeperhold, if she had gotten back up so soon and struck the referee to the ground, then what could Yuki do that could stop her?

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Yuki watched her opponent's approach, her heart beating faster and faster with each step she took, as she held the breath in her lungs in anticipation of the one terrible moment where all would come to a head. But when Angelina lashed out, it all flashed past her eyes in a matter of seconds. She lunged forward, her fist flashed out in front of her, and it hit Yuki square in the middle of her throat!

The brunette's eyes snapped open in shock as her body erupted in pain. She fell to her back, clutching at her throat and kicking her legs in the air as she writhed back and forth in a panic. Yuki wanted to scream, but all that came out were hoarse, gurgling noises. She couldn't even breathe - all she could do was squeeze her eyes shut, trying to stop the flow of the tears that were welling up in them.

[Monsy]

There was something about having one foot in the grave. How she walked, dragging her own tombstone; powered by an angry, vengeful fuel that kept this corpse of a woman moving forward. Spite. Will. Fear. Which one was it? She couldn’t think of anything strung together. Everything was red. All she knew was what she wanted. For YUKI to feel pain. And so she went, soared in the air and thrust a fist, jamming four blunt knuckles into their soft throat. The landing pinched her ankle and Angelina fell on her hands and knees beside them. That glower rained down, watching them gurgle, and not even getting a stare back as Angelina licked her top lip. “Eight fuckin’ losses and it looks like ya still don’t know what it means to fuckin’ lose.” Angelina snarled as she propped onto her knees, reached for her boot and yanked on the laces, undoing one-by-one. “To have all that hope slip away. Something ya can never take back, because it’s already taken by someone else.” Finally, the laces were freed. “It’s fear for ya fuckin’ life, fear for tomorrow, hoping ya were dead.”

Angelina stomped one foot down, doubled her hands on it and pushed up. The limb shook and she grit her teeth to push off, but she planted her second, however leaned on her good foot. Then she bent over, snapped her hand into Yuki’s hair, clutched like teeth sinking into the scalp and torqued them up to force a sitting up-right position. And how easy it would be from there, to lean down to their ear, pointing outward to the fans and a camera. “I’ll teach ya all about it, free of charge. Just don’t hold back any tears. Losin’ is an experience. And lucky for ya, I’m willing to bet there’s folks of yours out there who will also cry watching me turn ya blue, Yooks.”

At long last, that smile returned, wrath-flooded and blood-lusted. She was all worked up with shivering hands, with a shoelace wrapped around her knuckles, then around the other hand. Her knee plunged and aimed to smack against the upper-spine right below the nape, while the two hands hooked the lace over the windpipe, wrapped around, crossed over and torqued until her arms were pulled stiff like bridge rope.

“Feel. EVERY. BIT of this!”

[CaptainL]

Yuki might have been bold. She might have been determined. She considered her conviction to be her greatest strength - it kept her grounded through her matches, maintaining her focus on what mattered and allowing her to land all of her moves with careful precision. But as with all things, Yuki's greatest strength had a dark side. When she was faced with something that truly left her stunned, that surpassed all of her expectations, that she truly didn't know how to deal with, Yuki was at a loss. She froze up, alone and unsure and afraid of what to do.

Angelina had caught her off guard with the blow to her throat. It had laid her flat on her back, gasping and groaning for breath as her trachea spasmed and she thrashed back and forth. But now that Angelina was marching toward her, everything seemed to slow to a halt; her very presence commanded her attention. Yuki stopped and looked up at the woman approaching her, the rhythmic rise and fall of her steps seeming to go by in slow motion as her heart thumped in her chest hard enough for her to feel like she could hear it. Yuki didn't know what this woman would do, or how to stop it. She didn't know if she could stop it. What she did know...was that it was going to hurt.

When Angelina slipped the lace from her boot, already the crowd had begun to boo. Everyone knew what was coming next. Yuki herself could feel her blood run cold. This time, though, it wasn't because she didn't know what was coming - it was because she did. In her brutal match against Skylar Jones, Yuki had gone into the match determined to take a risk in order to prove she belonged, and she had left it dangling from a crude noose made from her opponent's belt. She felt lucky to have escaped from that match with her life. Now...was it all going to happen again?

The dark-haired girl shook her head as Angelina approached, her shadow falling over her prone form as though she was a looming mountain. There was no courage or defiance in her voice. All that escaped was a wavering whisper, as a tear began to form at the corner of her eye. "No...no..."

But Angelina wouldn't stop. She wouldn't heed Yuki's words. She had alread made up her mind. She wanted Yuki to know what true despair felt like, and she'd stop at nothing to do so. Soon enough, she grabbed Yuki by the hair, yanking her back up; she let out a yelp as she found herself guided into a seated position. As the blur faded from her vision, and the world around her came back into view - in detail that was all too vivid - Yuki realized what she was in for. She saw the laces around Angelina's knuckles, and she saw the cord hanging just in front of her throat. A minute ago, Yuki had been gasping for air - but now, her hoarse gasps turned to the manic hyperventilating of hysteria, and she frantically shook her head back and forth in a last desperate attempt to hold Angelina off. But it was hopeless. There was no ref around to stop her - and Angelina was not feeling merciful.

Yuki could feel the cord digging into the skin of her neck. She felt her windpipe tighten as either end of the shoelace was pulled taut, burrowing it even deeper into the flesh beneath. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a dry hiss. She couldn't let this happen again; she didn't want this! With her heart racing, Yuki's feet pounded at the mat as she kicked her legs in the air. She thrashed from side to side, putting every ounce of effort she had left in her into shaking off the pressure. The color began to drain away from her face, and the edges of the world blurred; even the booing of the fans had become a dull roar for her. The joshi wrestler attempted to grab for the cord around her neck, wrapping her fingers around it tightly and pulling with all her might. There was only thing she knew now - she wan't going to let this happen again. In her bleary vision, in the whirlwind spinning all around her, and through the haze of painful memories, when Yuki looked back over her shoulder, it wasn't Angelina Tarrant who was strangling her - it was Skylar Jones!

[Monsy]

Was it selfish to enjoy seeing the hope drizzle from their eyes, courage to falter at their voice and to almost hear their fearful heartbeat? Did it really matter? This was losing. What she saw was something she, herself, caused. They can try and deny it later. There could be no photographs of what she saw. Even if all evidence were to be destroyed, she'd still remember this very sight. With how she took their courage, then, their breath. Knocking on their windpipe’s front-door was just the start. Nothing but a brief consequence, a little backwater fear of choking never hurt anyone. Many got off to it. No, she needed something that even she herself would run from. Shoelace, simple and sufficient. Perhaps the scariest thing about it was how easy it was to obtain, a utility-turned-weapon to turn them blue. Angelina ripped on the cord, slacking her arms then tugging it strong afterward. Impish squirms and thrashes were only serving to add rope-burn than anything de-stabilizing. The pitifulness of it was rendering her annoyed. “That really it? Huh.” She followed along with their writhes, simply holding the grip and using her leverage to tear her back to where she started.

An eye tightened. It was twitching, garnished by a half-smirk on the same side - meeting their eyes like a vengeful god reaping its due. Perhaps a spectator in someone’s misfortune. Not enough. It missed a little something to truly capture loss. That feeling of irreversible consequence. To have this draining face finally break. Angelina opened her maw, and licked a fresh coat of spit onto her teeth. Both rows. Her eyes flicked down to how they were wedging fingers to ease the pressure. Angelina could only wonder. Was the need to breathe better than getting blood to that stupid head? Ah well… “Look at ya, finally bein’ smart. Too bad. Too little; too late.” And Angelina’s jaw opened, and without cue, lunged forward, slamming the spears of her two rows of teeth into their face like a highway car crash. It entrenched into the stretches of their forehead, where it would scrape until it found the grip to sink in, further and further as her jaws tried to slam together, and she leaned against them, so violent they might even tip over onto the canvas.

[CaptainL]

The more Angelina pulled back on the shoelaces, the more Yuki felt them tighten around her neck. They sank into her skin, causing her trachea to narrow inward more and more; if Angelina pulled any harder, she thought, she was afraid it would cut straight through her spine. As much as she gagged and gasped, no air left her lungs, not even a scream. Yuki could feel her vision growing darker, and the world around her had started to blur. She was growing dizzy; everything felt like she was spinning even when she was standing in place. As the air began to drain from her lungs, and as her face began to take on a bluish tinge, Yuki knew she was reaching her limits. A little bit more of this, and she could pass out. Yet, at the same time, her mind was crystal clear and focused intently on one singular thought - Angelina was mocking her.

Yuki heard her words, and she knew exactly what they meant. She was supposed to be better than this; she was supposed to be stronger. If her comeback to LAW was supposed to mean anything, it was that she would prove she wouldn't be pushed around any more, and that she could overcome any obstacle that stood in her way. Yet, now, she had frozen in place, too haunted by her past and all the letdowns and failures to stand in defiance. When she stared back at Angelina, her face went pale and her eyes widened in a glassy stare. It was all happening again - just as it had against Skylar, and just as it had in her last match; her match at We Are LAW against Satsuki Hayano.

There, she had ended up in a similar position, with Satsuki all but hanging her against the ropes with a headscissor, daring her to be stronger. Angelina was doing the same. And Yuki wanted, more than anything else, to be stronger - yet here, she couldn't find that strength in her when she needed it the most. She wanted to prove she wouldn't let the same fate befall her again. Even if she couldn't escape, she at least wanted to snap in Angelina's face, to tell her she wouldn't take this lying down, to get the last word in. But when Yuki opened her mouth, all that came was a hoarse wheeze. Even her desperate attempts to pull and tear at the lace entangling her throat were starting to slow down - not only from breathlessness and fatigue, but from the weight of Yuki's past. When Angelina said those words - too little, too late - that was the hardest blow Yuki had suffered in this match. It told her the very thing she had been most afraid of, all this time, had come true.

But if that wasn't bad enough, seconds later, Angelina struck again. She leaned in closer, baring her teeth like a wild animal, and Yuki barely had time to process what was happening to her before she bit down on her forehead! Her teeth sank deeper into her scalp, and the searing pain shot through Yuki's body as her jaw dropped open and her face contorted in agony. Her body wanted to scream, yet no sound left her lungs but a hoarse, dry hacking.

Blood began to trickle from the wound, and she felt its warmth and wetness against her skin. Once again, it was all flooding back to her. It had been the same way against Skylar - first she had been hung from the ropes, then her opponent sliced her forehead open with a knife. It had been the most agonizing, brutal, painful experience of her career, and she wasn't even sure if she was going to survive. Now, it seemed like it was happening again.

No. No, it couldn't happen again!

The thoughts flashed through her head again. Yuki had grown stronger now. She'd trained. She'd healed. She'd made a comeback. She was ready to show the world another side of her, one that wouldn't be cowed or conquered! Angelina wanted to prove that was all a lie, and that Yuki was the same helpless, hopeless girl who everyone had watched be crushed and humiliated so many times before. But it wasn't over. Not yet. Even if her strength was dwindling down to dying embers, Yuki wasn't out yet. The world was spinning, and she could barely see straight. But she still had the chance to prove she wouldn't let this happen again, even if it was the last thing she did! Out of defiance, out of fear, out of anger and desperation...Yuki wasn't going to be a victim again!

Yuki winced as she felt Angelina's teeth press in even deeper. Her body trembled, her teeth clenched. She hissed under her breath with what little air she had. But she could feel herself tip backward, and she could feel the weight with which Angelina draped herself against her. She was off-balance - and that gave Yuki hope that she could make a difference!

Suddenly, her arm shot upward, her fingers curled into a grasp. She grabbed a handful of Angelina's hair and pulled to the side, at the same time throwing one of her legs around the redhead's own to unseat her balance as she shoved her full weight up against her body in an attempt to wrestle her down. It was brutal, it was aggressive - more so than Yuki was used to. But it was her one chance, and she couldn't waste it!

[Monsy]

It wasn’t one woman’s weakness over another’s strength — but what one was willing to do. Perhaps not a throat punch, but one on the chin. Would her opponent bounce back so quickly? If not the shoe lace choke, but a sleeper, can Yuki Kazikura bring it back? Should nothing motivate this helpful damsel of a wrestler, than her teeth sinking and grinding into the scalp shall. After all, anything fights back when backed into the corner. Going to sleep wouldn’t be so bad. Hurts, yes, but that was just too easy. There needed to be blood for wasting her time, and that colour would add just the right flavour.

Just one last nail was to define this coffin. Get her on the ground, where her lighter but significant weight can dominate amongst the already siphoning shoe-lace choke. But it was a war until the end, and finally, she got the rebuttal from this fish-out-of-water opponent. A clench to tear her red strands taut against the scalp, with Angelina’s skull turning as she hissed — and like the leaning tower, she’d eventually topple over.

Her back slapped the mat, yielding a gasp. Not so much a daze — but more importantly, the shoe-lace choke was loosened and her teeth came free with Angelina’s head falling to the canvas too. “Finally found ya spine, aye dorkstick?!” She cackled, ”Where was it thirty seconds ago??”

Angelina tried tossing her leg around Yuki’s waist, propping an elbow underneath as she scrambled to recoup, giving up the shoelace altogether. Down here would be her graveyard if Yuki recovered. And to win against an opponent like Yuki, it wasn’t about being better, it was about how she played her hand. And to that hand, Angelina went for the eyes. Her fingers were like a spider’s legs that curled and tried gripping into their face, scraping the blood that had oozed then painting it into their eyes as much as she could. If she can manage to gouge and blood-smother any hope of a comeback, she’d use her leg, toss her other arm around their head and roll. Not once or twice. But until the ropes and beyond!

[CaptainL]

Angelina was forcing Yuki to think on her feet - if she was going to rise to this challenge, playing the nice girl routine she was used to simply wouldn't cut it any more. But if Angelina was going to bring Yuki's aggression and anger out of her, the dark-haired girl was going to make sure she would regret it. If this was the way Angelina wanted to play, Yuki was just going to bring the fight to her. She had learned all too painfully that if she didn't meet her opponent on her own ground, she was only going to fall behind her and get steamrolled as the match got further and further out of control - and, after having been so painfully reminded of her previous match with Skylar Jones, she knew she couldn't let that happen to her again.

Snarling through clenched teeth, Yuki pulled as hard as she could at Angelina's hair, sweeping the two of them off the ground. She wheezed and hissed through the growing pressure around her throat; even as she plummeted through the air, she could hardly breathe. But she knew she had to keep fighting - even if her airways burned, she had to make a point; she had to show Angelina she wasn't going to back down from this! Finally, as the two of them struck the mat, the slack set into Angelina's fingers; the shoelace began to slip from her hand, and with it Yuki could breathe fully and freely. She took in a gasp, drawing air back into her lungs as though her life depended on it. But that wasn't going to slow down her assault even one bit!

Raising her arm, Yuki balled a fist, prepared to throw it down into Angelina's face from a mounted position atop her. But her strike would only swing through the air and bury itself in the canvas. Angelina had swerved to the side, throwing her leg around Yuki to keep her contained - and moments later, she threw her fingers into Yuki's face, swiping a swathe of blood from her forehead and into her eyes!

At once, the world around Yuki blurred and went black. All she could see was red, and when she tried to blink it out of her eyes, her eyelids just stuck together. Even if Angelina's grip on her throat had been relinquished, Yuki was still vulnerable - she couldn't see, and she couldn't react to anything the redhead did! Moments later, as Angelina jabbed her fingers into her now-bloodied eyes, Yuki cried out in pain. Her eyes stung, welling up with tears that mixed with the blood and caused everything to swirl and bubble. Now, her priorities had shifted - she needed to get herself out of Angelina's clutches, and fast; she knew she could only suffer if she was left at her mercy!

Yuki's hand swept upward, latching onto Angelina's wrist. Gritting her teeth, she squeezed at it as hard as she could, fighting to pry the hand off of her face. Unable to see where she was going through blood, tears, and pain, Yuki couldn't keep track of what was happening to her. All she knew was that, as Angelina began to roll, the two of them went tumbling across the canvas, going up, then down, then back up again. It wasn't until Yuki felt herself slip out underneath the bottom rope that she realized where the two of them were going - and then, she felt the drop off the apron as they plummeted to the floor below!

Yuki landed outside the ring with a thud. Her body tensed, and a shudder went through her spine as she braced herself against the pain of the impact, leaving her body trembling. But she knew she couldn't falter now - and her desperation and adrenaline would keep her going! While one hand held onto Angelina's wrist for dear life, she balled a fist with the other to ram it against her ribs and sides. She could only flail her fist blindly in the air, but it was better than nothing! The match had descended into a wild brawl outside the ring - and with the referee down, there was no one who could stop it!

[Monsy]

One thing she conceded about this gal; she knew how to hold on by her fingernails. Just who fights back after a throat punch?! Who still has it to scrap after getting their throat laced up, pulled, their breath juiced like a squeezed tomato? Even when she bit down, demanding blood to flow and trying to crush all those nerves, it seemed like the downward rush was starting to level out. Yuki took it back. The fact they could, and they did, despite Angelina’s effort, was bone-chilling. There was a knot in her throat and her heart rate almost hurt in those first few seconds, but she still found something to blabber just to keep her mind moving forward.

No stopping now.
All coherent strategies went out the window. Instinct begged her arms to move, and she went for the eyes, she tangled them with her legs. The grip on her wrist forced Angelina to bite her bottom lip and growl as they thrashed across the ring. There was no answer to this. She just needed to get on top. But they kept checking, rolling - the ordeal was starting to make her lightheaded and heavy.

“GAHK!” Angelina crashed on her shoulder, and her limbs clapped together. It rendered her dizzy, almost nauseous with pain, scrambling to suck in and with fixed eyes on Yuki, now starting to wander unguided. “Guh! AGH!” She closed her eyes as Yuki battered and hammered away. It was almost a girlish squeal. She scrambled with her legs, flopping her lower body away like a fish out of water before she found her knees, then tugged against Yuki’s grip to no avail. “G-Gh… Just… Let fucking go!”

Once more she tug, this time as she tried to stand, hurriedly as though her end game depended on it. If that didn’t work by the time she stood, she would lift the bottom of her show and start stomping away at their stomach, again and again, and again and again! “Let! Me! Fucking! Go! Kazi! Kura!”