KINGS & QUEENS ( QF ) — Black Severin vs Karen Gale

[Underdoggo]

Karen felt the satisfying impact of her boots slamming against Severin's chest, the blow spearing her male opponent dead in the center and cannoning him off of his feet, sending him crumpling to the mat. Dropping to her butt, she grinned wolfishly as she saw Severin lying dazed on the mat. Good, now it was her turn.

Kipping back up to her feet, Karen leaned down to grab two handfuls of Severin's dreads (not that she didn't appreciate some well-cut dreads on a man, but she wasn't the type to go easy on a foe no matter how good their hair was), yanking him to his feet. With that done, she would try to drive a knee up into his already hurting midsection, before clamping an arm around his head, tucking it against the side of her chest, and yanking back on his pants. If all went according to plan, she would drop back and nail Severin with a quick but effective suplex!

[DSX93]

Severin was sucking air into his lungs as fast as he could, losing time he couldn't afford to when his body rejected some of it with coughs. He'd lost sense of where he was. Exactly where, in relation to the monster that just wrecked his shit. But what he did know was that he had to get up. Right now.

And he tried, but it was like there were invisible hands reaching up to pull him back down to the mat, and they were strong. It took him back to that fight with Jeremy Hoskins back in high school. Dude was six-foot-two and probably around two hundred pounds. Terrell himself was one-thirty back then. A skinny kid. So needless to say, when Jeremy hit him with that four piece combo, it put him down. He knew that would happen, and it was exactly why he never fought back for all those years. Not even when the bastard stole his girlfriend in their junior year.

Yeah, he was pathetic back then, and he'd be the first to admit it. But not entirely worthless. He was fighting to back up Beatriz, who'd defended herself against the girl he dumped Terrell's ex for. Beatriz won that fight, so now she was coming back to sic Jeremy on her and intimidate her into submission. Terrell was in the same position then that he is now, struggling to get back to his feet. But Jeremy would end up giving him the shot of adrenaline he needed to jump right back up. A simple knockdown wasn't enough for the bullying jock. He had his mission, and with both his girl of the next few months and the target she painted watching, he had to do something emphatic. Send a message.

Beatriz must've sensed the bad intentions, because she ran up and tried to pull him back. Her efforts got an elbow swung back into her face, breaking her nose. The sight of her on the floor, blood just leaking out of her face...That did it. He was going to take that piece of shit down if it was the last thing he did.

That energy was exactly what Severin needed right now. He pushed and pushed, like Karen was going to go backstage and try to find either her or Keira if he didn't get up right now. And he started doing it. But it felt like the world was swaying to the side, and he had to put a hand down to keep his balance when he made it up to one knee.

He wasn't fast enough. He saw her coming, but at that moment, he couldn't manage more than grabbing at her wrist when she got another handful of dreads. But Karen was nice enough to help him up...right into another knee to the gut, and to a snap vertical suplex that knocked more wind out of him.

Severin gritted his teeth and held on. Literally, squeezing down on Karen's neck with the arm she had around her shoulder, lifting the other to grab at whatever he could for leverage. Then he brought his legs up, swinging them to the side to gather momentum. He grunted through the effort, putting some muscle into dragging her along. He had to take that control back!

He'd do his best to focus and work with his whacked-out equilibrium, moving a little sluggishly, but he'd make it onto his feet. If he wasn't shut down here, he'd lift her up to give her a suplex of her own.

[Underdoggo]

Severin was hurting; that much was plain as Karen yanked him to his feet. He was a strong and skilled wrestler, of that she had no doubt, and he had been giving her a serious run for her money so far. But she was getting the impression that he had never yet faced a woman who was as strong as him, if not stronger. And she wasn't going to lie, she was enjoying being able to toss Severin around in this match. And she was going to continue to enjoy tossing him as soon as she hit him with this sup--

No. Reacting quickly, Severin snagged his arm around her head, interrupting her suplex. She even felt him arching back, trying to suplex her instead. Reacting quickly, she shifted her weight, kicking her legs to counter Severin as he tried to lift her. If she managed that, then for a few vital seconds the two would stand against each other, muscled arms interlocking, Karen feeling Severin's arm breath on her shoulder as she two remained cinched.

That was, before Karen tried to lift Severin up bodily, and charge forward, aiming to slam him back-first into the nearby turnbuckle!

[DSX93]

Damn it! Too slow. Too sluggish. And she was much too fresh to pull the get-back he was trying for. Severin didn't have the footing he needed to keep her from wiggling her way back to her own, and at that point, he just listened to that voice inside that told him to breathe. Gather himself. He knew this was a risk, but the alternative of keeping the attack going just failed. He just had to hope that when she made her next move that it would be enough to counter.

He wasn't so beat up, so soon that he didn't have the sense to lean his body forward and spread his legs out, though. One in front, the other some distance back, digging in with his boots the best he could. Standing with his waist and legs open like he was was asking to be bull-rushed again. And surely enough, Karen went for another powerful charge. Severin's first impulse was to take his rear leg and drive a knee into her gut, but he quickly realized how likely that was to backfire if she caught it.

Better to hit something she can't defend.

Kazuma Kiryu found himself in a similar spot twice in his battle with Masato Aizawa at the end of Yakuza 5. The first time would see him getting out of it with what was probably bullshit, but might've been a more advanced technical maneuver. One that Severin didn't see himself pulling off. The second time, he'd use brute force,

onto Aizawa's back and making the man work for every inch of ground until at last, Aizawa faltered. Just for long enough for him to turn it around.

It's what Severin was hoping for when he did the same.

[Underdoggo]

Up Severin went, as Karen used her grip to lift him off his feet. Grinning savagely-- not just from taking control, but also at the chance to demonstrate her strength by lifting her male opponent off his feet-- Karen tightened her grip around Severin's waist, adding a brief but tight bear hug to his woes before she tried to ram him. Admittedly she was also taking a few seconds to enjoy the feeling of his washboard abs up close, not that she was going to let that on to anyone.

Before she could charge forwards, however, sharp pain spiked through her shoulders as an elbow slammed down between them. She gasped, before another elbow slammed down against her upper back, followed by another, each one rattling her upper body. She clenched her teeth, stumbling a little as Severin rained blow after blow down on her mostly bare back.

That didn't stop the Maori, though: with a loud yell, she charged forwards, brutally introducing Severin's spine to the turnbuckle. With the deed done, she released her foe and stumbled back, allowing herself to recline a little against the adjacent ropes to catch her breath and allow herself to recover a little...consoling herself, of course, that as painful as those blows had been, she had at least tanked them...and no doubt Severin had to be hurting a lot worse...

[DSX93]

Severin felt the Heat, but fumbled the QTE. And thusly, the future refused to change. And what did his future have in store for him? Pain. Shooting through his spine at the point of impact, knocking all that breath that he just struggled to draw back in out, and some rebellion into his legs. If he were in the ring with, say, Ducky Williams, then he might not have made much of an effort in the following moments; falling into a seated position in the corner against her would've been pretty far from the worst thing he could've done.

Not to sell Karen short; she was carrying some well-baked goods in the back too. But he had the feeling that she wouldn't be so generous. He had to stay his ass on his feet, but his legs didn't want to obey orders. The ropes to either side of him became his lifelines. He gripped onto them and he wasn't about to let go. But for now, there wasn't much more he could do besides that.

[Underdoggo]

The crowd collectively winced as Severin received a short but brutal introduction to the turnbuckle. Taking the opportunity to back away, inspect her handiwork and take a breather, Karen noted the way Severin was now clinging to the ropes for dear life. She had him now.

Striding back up towards Severin, Karen would almost casually lash out with a forearm to club her male foe in the side of his head and keep him dazed. Upon accomplishing that, she would place a hand around his throat: unless Severin did anything to stop her, she would try to lift him out of the corner, turn around and brutally choke slam him into the mat!