Law of the Jungle! Bast vs. Hiro and Senji Takijima

[BlackAkuma]

Match Type
Tornado Tag Handicap
Victory Conditions
Pinfall, Count-Out, Submission, or KO

***

Continued from here...

”Don’t make it too quick.”

Bast had been focusing on her two opponents, sizing them up and thinking about the best way to approach this, when her sister’s words took her by surprise, coming in with a soft whisper from the side. She probably didn’t even need to lower her voice all that much, the crowd was loud enough to drown out anything without a microphone, even at this range, but she’d always like a little side talk before a match so they could get on the same page. Her ‘gameplan, as she liked to call it.

Bast kept her eyes forward, never wavering from her foes, but she answered Cersei all the same. ”I’m fighting two people at once.” Her brow creased. ”Faster is better.”

”I’m not saying you hold back. Just…” She rubbed Samira’s shoulder and gave it a quick pat. ”Demonstrate, is all. We’re here to make an impression. You have two opponents to work with, here, there’s no reason to let the crowd go with a taste. Divide and conquer. Give them the full spread. And most importantly, have fun.”

‘Have fun’. Bast let those words echo in her head as the referee prepared to start the match, and she couldn't help but notice that neither man was leaving the ring. So, not just a handicap match, but one where she had to face both at the same time. Daunting, but the way to approach was just as Cersei had said - divide and conquer.

DING DING DING!

The referee took a step back as the bell sounded, and that small move was the only thing that saved him as Bast rushed forward, storming across the ring with all the subtlety of a raging bull. She went straight for the smaller one - Senji, if she remembered correctly - brought her leg up and shot it at his chest with a push kick, one that had her full power and momentum behind it. A strong move, with a singular purpose: Trying to knock him clear out of the ring, to buy a moment or two alone with his brother.

[TheLoneWanderer]

["Guard it? Use my core to defend it?? Dam-"]

Not even able to finish his thoughts, a raging tempest came crashing against the fortress walls. It had only taken less than five seconds. His eyes caught her approaching but he had only moments to react and decree his physical reaction. A silver lining here was that Bast had went for his chest this time. That allotted a shorter delay to set up a guard and prepare to move back to dispel the impact as opposed to rooting himself into the floor. Even tensed up nice and proper, raring for a battle, agony exploded across his forearms while a 200+ pound behemoth sent him stumbling back out of the arena after getting hurled over the ropes. This was far compared to a few steps; the impact setting him on his back is due to it being so potent. The forearms were trembling from the push kick. When he'd gotten back to his senses thereafter, Senji tried to get up before his body was recovered. That made him slower to get on to his knees. Then came the procedure of pushing through the absolute hurt from the full power kick to put his left foot on the ground to push off from. It was 10 seconds for a count right? Senji, amid the rapid thoughts, figured he could get up that fast. While trying and initially failing to stand, his digits tried to massage his forearms to soothe the pain. She hadn't broken anything yet, but several more hits in the same place definitely would pierce his durability there like paper.

The raging bull that had diverted what should've been his reliable support. Hiroyuki had put himself in front so that she'd focus on him instead of Senji. With haste, Bast hadn't played ball. When Bast had completed her motions, Hiroyuki's nervous system finally reacted with corresponding reactions. Hiroyuki turned to the right on his toes, seeding his feet there and intending to hit her square in the right side of her jaw. With what? A powerful left straight. His fist came soaring as the knuckles sought out the fleshy target. If he timed it right, he'd hit her before she finished retracting her leg and turning to address him.


Understanding that it wouldn't fall her, Hiroyuki had either a back up move or second part of his combination. That consisted of him trying to clinch her left shoulder with his right's fingers. If he managed to secure her, Hiro kept his fluid motions going to hike up his knee as to go to bury it into her side, west of her stomach and intestines judging off the body positioning.

All the while, Senji let out a grunt as he kept trying to stand up. His legs had not been injured, so it was merely the grating injury in his arms and awkward landing position that was keeping him. Clearly, the younger one was faring worse off at the moment from the Pantheress's first-class treatment.

[BlackAkuma]

Bast was honestly surprised - pleasantly so, mind you - that her little opening gambit worked. She had often been able to take others off guard with her speed, rushing on them before they had the chance, but that was usually when there weren’t two of them to deal with. More people tended to add more complications to a fight, and she wouldn’t have thought to even try it before. But call it luck, her own ability, or a lack of cohesion on their part. It worked, and it worked well, sending Senji right out of the ring.

He would be back, of course - it looked like a nasty tumble, but nothing terminal, he should’ve been able to get back into the fight soon. In the meantime, Hiro would be the focus. And, on that note…

Yes, she wound up eating a punch in the face, and a good one, too. That was the big problem with this sort of match. She wa confident she could take either of them one-on-one, but dealing with one meant she would leave herself open to attacks from the other, and there wasn’t any way around that fact. She was doing her best to mitigate it, but there it was.

Bast took a weak step back, stunned not just by the attack, but the sheer guts of it. Now, after landing that, she expected him to back off, give her some space, play keep away and wait for his brother to join and work the numbers game again, so she was surprised when he came in and did the exact opposite, grabbing her the shoulder and ramming a knee into her stomach. That hurt. Not as much as being punched in the face, but it hurt. It was also something of a miscalculation on his part, she guessed - whatever reaction he expected from her, it wouldn’t be the one he received.

Bast took another step back from the knee, then reached out and put both her hands on his shoulder pulling him in for a tight clench. With his arms engaged with hers, he reeled back his leg and let fly with a powerful knee of her own, sending it rocketing into his stomach with cannon force, before he pulled back again and let another fly on the same destruction path, driving deep into him with each hellish blow.

[TheLoneWanderer]

Their specific styles had something in common. Hiroyuki played no games involving sadism. He didn't want to explicitly harm other people. Jiu-Jitsu, as in concept, was a soft art as opposed to something harder like Full Contact Karate or something of the sort. Still, playing around with Bast even at his degree would get him punched, kicked, choked, or slammed far easier than if he was pulling out all the stops against the goddess in front of him. Then she reacted. Muscular, toned arms ran amongst the light, poised limbs clenching onto her. A knee powerful enough to rip into the average man or woman's skin - perhaps down to the organs - came up to meet his abdomen. The first drew a cough as his core folded in on itself, contributing to the damage dealt.

The second found his eyes focusing on her leg, ripe with vigor, as it approached his stomach. His right tried to rip downward from the clinch as to catch her leg as it dug in. Due to having to take a strike to potentially make progress, Hiro hooked his arm as to where the back of her knee would be setting into the crook his elbow. It was akin an acceptable choking arm position for a Rear Naked Choke or Sleeperhold. After that, Hiroyuki tried to bait her into pulling his head forward due to the pressure she had to exert within the clinch. If she let his head go closer to her chest, Hiroyuki would aim to push off using his right leg for a springboard combined with a small velocity provided by Bast having pulled his head forward.


This would endeavor to catch the Hammer of Africa in a somewhat harsh frontal-based takedown, hiking her knee to better push it along the length of his own hip if he could get it off the corresponding side, to put her on her posterior. Hiroyuki would be faced with a deadlock though. If she still retained her grip over his head, then he'd be stuck there. He'd have to work off of where he felt her arms were if she stuck to striking. Being within her guard should it be managed on Bast's side, wouldn't be a complete failure. On the other possibility, Hiroyuki stuck his head up high so she could not snag it again easily if she were to be unable to hold onto his filled scalp due to the takedown. Senji, finally, as the seconds ticked by, was able to get his hands onto the ropes and swing his foot over the edge. He'd be back before any count outs that was for sure. They'd have time for Bast to focus on her battle with Hiroyuki though since Senji was recovering even as he made his way back into the ring....

[BlackAkuma]

It started well enough. For her.

Bast’s first name sunk deep into Hiro and folded the man clean in half, crushing his core with the pulverizing force. He actually took it better than she expected - most of the people she landed a blow like this on would’ve fallen flat to their knees, but he was able to stay standing, even though she had landed it right on her target. The match was young, but he was already showing some impressive stamina.

Which meant that he’d survive longer than she wanted. Which meant it would be harder to keep the numbers games from overwhelming. Damn it.

She let loose with another knee, but this one didn’t do as well, with Hiro grabbing it tight and keeping it against his body. That wouldn’t have been so problematic, but he had the good sense to use her position to his advantage. She pulled his head in tight against her body, and he used that to swing her around and bring her down hard on her back, getting on top with her leg in his grasp.

But there was a big difference between being on top and being in control. He might have had her leg, but the more valuable prize was in grasp: His head. And she knew what to do with it.

Instead of letting him go, Bast kept his head down and attempted to pull it under her shoulder, looking to wrap her around his neck with a tight guillotine choke. At the same time, she tried to wrap her other leg around his body and cross ankles behind his back, securing the deadly hold and crushing him within her grasp, clamping down on him with all the power she could summon.

At the same time, she was quite aware that Senji was in the process of making his way back into the ring. It was a concern, but if she locked this hold in, it might not matter. Even three seconds in a choke like this was an eternity.

[TheLoneWanderer]

Well, neither one had perished. That counted for something.

In a flash, Hiroyuki had been capitalized on. Her arm threaded itself underneath the front of his neck. So she was switching to holds now. That arm curled into it to compress his throat. On top of that, the legs at his bottom half wrapped around the trunk. He swore his eyes watered a little when the squeezing started, but Hiro was still in the game. A defense here, according to the mental arsenal of escapes, was to try muscling his way out. However, when he tried it in the seconds there, Hiroyuki found that he couldn't pop his head out because she'd already beat him to squeezing and wrenching on his head. Another one, then. Prying on the arms was a waste of time unless it was very early in the hold or you were sufficiently strong enough. Hiro certainly could muster up the strength to actually pick Bast up faster than his brother due to being further along in development and training longer.

Though, that cut both ways considering how she outright sent Senji hurtling through the air. Hiroyuki's free arms, presumably since she hadn't snagged one, went to go to the intersection point of her fingers. After this, the hands tried to wrap around the wrists and yank as hard as he could muster. It was a weak link to exploit, combined with Hiroyuki trying to raise his forehead from being pressed against the floor and causing her shoulder to be forced upward if he could manage such a feat. If Hiroyuki was denied this, there'd be another hunt for an escape.

The final endeavor called upon assistance. However, it'd be important to see how this attempt panned out first. On Senji's side, he'd made it back into the confines of the ropes by the end of the exchange - however it went. He panted softly, clearly still full of energy despite the egregious sole to the chest cavity. He needed to help his sibling somehow...just as soon as the rest of this pain subsided. As Hiroyuki struggled, he could still feel his head starting to swim. Usually, since it could be considered a hybrid of an air and blood choke, it took roughly 4-9 seconds before an opponent was rendered to sleep. Though, this "can" be altered by factors such as strength, musculature, escape appliances, etc.

[BlackAkuma]

”Tap. Out.”

Bast’s first words to Hiro came as a hissed command, growled through her teeth as she powered down on the hold. Despite Cersei’s suggestion, she would’ve been perfectly happy to end the match here - no, it wouldn’t be a good thing for either of these men’s careers, but it wouldn’t be any worse than her beating them to a bloody pulp, either, and it would definitely be better for their longevity. She’d applied this hold before, she knew what damage it could do to a person, and she was of a mind to spare them if at all possible.

But, to his credit and her annoyance, Hiro turned out to be a tough man, far more stubborn than she had anticipated. He fought hard, prying at her grip, forcing her to clamp down even harder for the same results. Could she finish him in this hold? Yes, she was sure of that. Could she do it in time to avoid being ganged on by his brother who was coming his way? No, not with the fight Hiro was putting up and the way her grip was starting to slack.

The hold would break, one way or another. Best that it happen on her terms.

Bast unhooked the choke, giving Hiro back his precious air, but he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it for long. Her next move was to drill him in the face with a stiff punch from her other arm, then unhook her legs and push him with a rough shove, trying to make some distance between them. With that done, she’d roll to her front and try to make her way up, but what happened after that would all be up to Senji, depending on whether he could capitalize on her moment of vulnerability or if he’d stay back.

[TheLoneWanderer]

Both would not be getting what they wanted, it looked like. A relatively easy victory for the brothers and a clean submission for Bast's conscience. He'd got out at the end the line, partly due to Bast deciding to abandon the Guillotine. Knuckles pierced into his defenses and pushed into his front.

Steel the mind, kill the heart.

The two always had to keep their niceties restrained especially when involving an adversary. Still, that as another trait she and the two shared but for differing reasons despite their equally various contrasts. Due to the strike and push, Hiro has put back a small distance onto his rear. He was supported by his elbow as, amidst still-clearing vision, he perceived Bast getting to her feet. Senji, now that Hiroyuki had not needed his assistance nor was the elder brother in his way, the younger one wanted to interpose so that Hiro wouldn't be exclusively hounded. He chose to try taking her on in the ground game next. There was an opening he always sought to gain he caught sight of one, and he chose to take it. While Bast was getting up, Senji thrusts from the corner to try to slam into her from the left and into her corresponding side. Regarding his thoughts as he charged at Bast, they were as follows:

["If I can't overpower her on the ground, then I have to back off and will not be able to keep her away from Hiroyuki."]

Senji put his full weight into it and he was fit enough to lift sufficiently past his body weight with obvious effort. Bast was over 200 pounds of pure, exercised muscle, to her merit. Even his initial impact into the attempted takedown felt like slamming into a flesh-filled stone wall. She wasn't completely overwhelming, it just irritated his body to even slam into her with such force. Senji didn't want to end up in guard so he tried to push his feet farther ahead so that they'd catch him and rest parallel to the sides of her body. The Hammer would then, presuming it worked, see Senji leering over her in a standing position but keeping her halfway held up by his right hand on her shoulder's flesh. Gripping the neck was too rough and perhaps even risky at this stage. Senji did want to give Bast a fair chance too. It'd be uncouth to go for extremely dirty blows when it wasn't 1 step away from living or dying. Even then, that'd be stepping to the limits of the constitution he set on himself. To commence the final action, Senji dispatched his stronger left fist forward for repeated straight hits at her face while leaving a metaphorical back door to back off (if it didn't close on him).

A minor distance away, it was Hiroyuki's turn to recoup. He'd have to bide his time even if he got up despite Senji doing a contrary action to what Hiro desired - push himself in front of Hiroyuki to spare him.

[BlackAkuma]

Hiro was down for a few moments, thanks to the combination of getting hoked and having his skull hammered by her punch. That was good.

But Senji managed to slam into her, bringing her to the floor and knocking the wind out of her. That was much less so.

It wouldn’t have been the biggest deal in most circumstances, but in such a tight match, one that had already brought her down to the mat more than she would’ve liked, it was an irritating development. She wanted to be standing, needed to get up so she could use her best moves - she could do submissions and her ground game was good, but strikes and throws were her bread and butter. The sooner she could be on her two feet, the sooner this would sway in her favor.

It seemed like the brother’s knew that, too, as they seemed intent on pouring on the pressure and buffeting her with a non-stop assault at every turn. The smart strategy. Would it work?

Not if she had her way.

Bast took one punch in the face, then another, and another on top of that. They weren’t the hardest blows she’d ever suffered, but even she couldn't absorb them all day. She needed to get out of this, she needed a way to rise up, she needed…

”Hm.”

She took one more blow to the skull, then stopped trying to pull away from Senji. Instead, she began to rise, planting her feet on the mat and standing up, lifting him up on her shoulders as she straightened. He was the lighter of the two brothers, a fact her back was grateful for, but it still put no small amount of strain on her back, pushing her to the brink with an awkward movement. It was a move that would leave her face open for more punishment, but if what she had in mind worked, it would all be worth it.

Bast held up him aloft, lifted him high up, then took a couple of steps forward to bring him crashing down where she was reasonably certain Hiro still was, attempting to powerbomb him right on top of his older brother.

[TheLoneWanderer]

Senji was partway awed and felt a minuscule amount of unrestricted fear. Why? From her half-sitting position, she'd used her limbs to start getting up while Senji was reduced to having his legs wrapped around her waist for the ride. This act confused him, even as he tried to keep up his barrage of blows. However, he realized two things. With enough time, Senji could've possibly swung around to the back to catch her in a chokehold of some kind. However, while he was far from bad, that action would take periods that she wasn't giving him. Senji, while looking down at Bast to see where his strikes were landing, caught something in the corner of his eye. The family member beneath him and the fact he was incoming at feet per second. Eyes widened into rarely seen dinner plates!

"NO-!!"

Senji exclaimed as he was cut off by the consequence. This easily cut off his hastily managed scissoring of her trunks, leaving his legs to spread back out. Senji had landed on Hiro's chest and abdominals which further knocked the wind out of him. Both mentally went guffaw at this litigation. Given her apprehension to ground work, her two prey she was hunting might be faced with her not as close as before. Hiroyuki let out a weak grown, muttering out an advice to Senji since his back wasn't being done any favors by the force of a female wrecking ball brought to his front and landing on the hard body of his recovering sibling.

"---Senji, I'm going to need you t-to move."

It wasn't really a choice, Senji found Hiroyuki pushing him off to the right and Senji mustered up the strength to complete the roll - stomach down. Senji gave a weak moan as he planted his right hand on to the canvas of the ring. Right now, his only focus was on getting up to face Bast again. His muscles were slow to respond to his orders for now. He must have smacked his scalp on Hiroyuki or the canvas. He was seeing double of the floor too.

Hiroyuki's efforts served a purpose. It allowed potential seconds for Senji to catch his breath. He'd prefer if Senji did not catch her interest once more so that he'd not take a lot of damage. When Senji couldn't guard against her attacks, his body crept ever closer to its limits if assaulted before he could back off. This, in turn, may get Bast to focus on the vital option to their system of tag-team if luck granted his little brother some help. She was too near for them to get up safely in the first place. So in his analysis of their situation amid the temporary stars, he thought it best for her to focus on him while Senji returned to his feet. Then, the numbers would be on their side. On the flip side, Hiroyuki would be granted more time if she went after the susceptible one.