A 100% Platonic, Non-Romantic Training Session

[BlackAkuma]

This wasn’t too bad, was it? Valerie had to admit, she didn’t hate the feeling of having Kyo against her like this, the two of them locked up as she powered forward.. It wasn’t the first time she’d felt his body, but she couldn't recall the two of them being together like this. So little space between, the feel of his breath against her throat, the heady scent of their sweat mixing in the air.

Ugh. Focus, focus.

Kyo definitely had his mind in the game, as he was quick to switch things up, snagging her by the head and getting his legs around her waist. While she was strong enough to carry him through, the sudden shift in weight took her off guard, ruined her stability, and down she went falling hard to the floor with him beneath her. Not a pleasant fall for either of them, she was sure, but the advantage was firmly in his favor.

”Do you?”

She grunted back her response, but yes, it seemed as if did. Valerie fought back as best as she could throwing a few quick punches into his side with her free arms, but there was only so much she could do from this angle while the leverage was thoroughly on his side.

[Underdoggo]

Kyo felt Valerie's head tucker under her armpit, her warm breath at his side as he tightened his grip, squeezing her against his abs in a side headlock...all the while punishing her own abs with a body scissor. At this point, he had Valerie more or less where he wanted, with him squeezing into her and slowly but surely wearing her down, in a position where her impressive strength could not be brought to bear against him. All in all, it was fair to say that he was now in control.

Not that Valerie was going to let him maintain that control: the blonde scrabbled and twisted furiously in his grip, shifting to the side to start throwing punches into his exposed side. He grunted and hissed with each blow, and felt his grip lessening with every impact. In response, he tried using his free arm to catch hold of one of Valerie's attacking arms, hoping to at least keep it under control even as he maintained his squeeze.

"Give up!" he said, breathing a little harder now as he had to fight for control. In an instant, Makie was dropping down next to them, leaning in close to the trapped blonde. "Valerie, do you give?" she asked. "And if not, can you breathe okay?"

[BlackAkuma]

Ugh, this wasn’t working. Kyo had her good.

Valley tried to fight out of the hold, but everything was on his side. The positioning, the leverage, the movement. She had him trapped, locked up, and all she could do in response was flounder about like a fish, a less than inspiring scene. As much as she enjoyed being pressed against his body, that was about the only benefit she was getting out of this, and it was rapidly reaching the point where that wasn’t enough to justify anything.

Valerie let out a long, irritated groan as Makie came over to her side, tensing up with frustration, then letting it go all at once. No hiding it anymore.

”...yeah.” She gave Kyo a few taps on the shoulder, signifying her surrender. ”Yeah, I give.”

[Underdoggo]

And just like that, Kyo felt the magic tap of Valerie's hand against his forearm.

Immediately, Kyo let Valerie go and rolled away, giving her the literal breathing space that she needed. Rolling back to his knees, he took a moment to catch his own breath while Makie checked up on Valerie. To Makie's satisfaction, Valerie was more exhausted and annoyed than hurt; so far, this spar had not been going over the edge at all.

Still catching his breath, Kyo took the opportunity to take a swig from his water bottle. "Sorry," he finally said, "you said we were doing strikes, but you didn't say submission holds weren't allowed." Tensing at the thought that Valerie just might be mad at him, he added "Maybe one more round between us?"

[BlackAkuma]

Valerie took in deep breaths after Kyo promptly released her, but she was mostly fine, and nodded Makie’s way as she came over to check. Getting schooled like that was a little irritating, but she didn’t blame him for that, only herself for falling for it. One more thing she needed to work on, which was the whole point of this spar - learning her shortcomings. So, mission accomplished.

She perked up when Kyo apologized, confused for a moment, until he explained his reasoning and it all clicked. Honestly, she’d nearly forgotten about the whole stipulation in the chaos of it all, but even if she hadn't, she couldn't complain. ”It’s okay, Kyo-san. You stuck to what I said.” She nodded and pushed her way back up, dusting herself off as she went. ”And I’d love one more go-around. Anything goes?”

[Underdoggo]

After a cursory check, Makie was satisfied that Valerie, if nothing else, was breathing normally, and was showing no signs of needing to take a lengthy time out. Backing away, Makie allowed the two of them to continue as Valerie stood up and dusted herself off, while Kyo slowly did the same. At the mention of anything goes, he smiled, an nodded.

"Alright," he said. "Anything goes. Victory by pinfall, KO or submission as usual...though as this is a spar, let's try not to KO each other if we can help it." Slowly, he began to circle her, watching her warily to see what she did next. "Ready when you are."

[BlackAkuma]

”Always ready.”

She nodded, smirked, and began to circle Kyo straight away, following him in a circle about the ring. She tested him with every other step - sometimes she would speed up, then slow down to try and catch her off base, sometimes, she would dart in and move back. Never giving him too many opening, never committing, until…

She moved in, arms up high, trying to draw him her way for a collar and elbow tie-up. Instead of engaging him, though, she dropped down and drove hard into his midsection, attempting to push him into the nearest turnbuckle and corner him. Strength was her best advantage, she figured, and the less space he had to avoid her, the better off she would be.

[Underdoggo]

And just like that, the two were circling again. Kyo watched Valerie's movements carefully, waiting to see what she would do. Given her amateur wrestling background, Kyo guessed she would go for a grapple and try to overpower him from the outset, to engage him in a contest of strength of which she was confident to be the winner.

As.it happened, Valerie did begin the round with a display of raw power. Just not the one Kyo had been expecting.

"OOOOPH!" he gasped as Valerie slammed into him like a freight train, spearing him.hard in the midsection and slamming him against the turnbuckle. He gagged and doubled over, finding himself panting against.Valerie's back as the blonde now had him pinned in place...

[BlackAkuma]

Oh, that was a good one. Valerie could feel his body giving way with the impact, feel the innards collapsing as her shoulder encroached, and it definitely sounded like that blow left him reeling. The spar had left them both a little weary - especially her, since she’d gone a round with Maki beforehand. It was taking a real toll, but she believed there was enough left in her tank to get this job done.

Only one way to know for sure, though. So…

With him still pressed tight against her, she decided to make the most of the position. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pulled him out of the corner, and proceeded to lift him clear off the canvas, hoisting him high as she went. After a quick check over her shoulders to make sure Maki wasn’t in the way, she spun about, fell forward, and brought him crashing to the canvas with a spinebuster, driving him hard with a powerful, resonating impact.

[Underdoggo]

"Ahh...hhnnngh..." That direct hit had done a lot to make Kyo lose his breath, to the point that he was now sucking in lungfuls of air. Right now, he was trapped, figuratively speaking, between a rock and a hard place, with Valerie pinning him neatly against the turnbuckle. Not impossible to break out of, though. All he had to do was drive a knee into her stomach and--

--and suddenly he was being lifted up as though he barely weighed anything. He had a horrible sensation of deja vu from their last match, with Valerie casually manhandling him and tossing him around, before he was driven hard into the mat with a brutal spinebuster. The impact jolted his entire body, and he slumped against the canvas, breathing even harder now.

"Come on, Kyo!" Makie called from the sidelines. "Valerie is kinda making you look bad right now!"

He opened one irritated eye in his sister's direction. "Thanks, Makie," he wheezed.