Cosmic Lightning - Toshimi Minami (D) vs Su Keqing

[Bare]

Minami had allowed herself to be taken down to the mat by her younger opponent. Hardly any worry being present on her face as she did so. After all Minami wasn't exactly worried about being able to keep up or losing the match as she was. Mostly due to the experience gap between them making Minami feel confident enough to escape or counter whatever Keqing would ultimately try and do.

Feeling herself dropped down to the mat Minami had what could only be described as a look of pure boredom on her face mixed with twinges of discomfort or pain as Keqing pressed her weight on her with a rather basic face lock. Something that she had at least held in correctly if nothing else.

But despite Minami allowing the girl to take her down that didn't mean that Minami would give the girl a free pass to do whatever she wanted to her. So instead Minami would reach up, tightening her grips on Keqing's shoulders. As she did so Minami would swing her legs up, aiming to drive her knees into the woman's sides to try and force her off of her!

[pu-level-up]

Wrenching on Toshimi's head and neck, Keqing tried to deal as much damage as possible in the limited time that she had before the veteran broke free from her hold. She knew she wouldn't be able to keep Toshimi trapped for long in something so basic. She expected Toshimi to wriggle her way out soon enough maybe bridging up or even rolling backwards to force Keqing to release her grasp.

What she wasn't expecting was Toshimi to hold her down and suddenly send both her knees into her side! Keqing let out a gasp of pain, the hold jarring her and making her grip loosen. Toshimi's knees kept on digging into her side, the veteran obviously trying to push her off using a combination of strength and discomfort.

But it also gave Keqing something of an opportunity. Toshimi was flat on her back now, and her legs weren't underneath her. That meant she had a small opening to transition the hold. Keqing quickly released the side headlock, swinging her body around (aided along a little by Toshimi's legs pushing her) and moved so she was facing Toshimi's legs. The whole time she kept her body and arm pressed against Toshimi's to try and keep the veteran down. Once she was in position, she would try to reassert her grip around Toshimi's head, trying to lock in a firm North-South Choke to keep up the pressure on Toshimi's neck!

[Bare]

Minami hadn't expected much of anything when she came down the ramp for this match. In fact she somewhat expected her opponent to be a joke that would have to be carried throughout the match for it to qualify for Apex. However it appeared that she was in for a surprise. Not only was Keqing able to withstand the pain of one of her infamous joint locks, but she was showing a degree of promise for submissions in general.

Most notably was right now. The face lock that she had no Minami was well maintained, but basic. Something that Minami didn't even try and use a proper counter against. Instead she simply opted to try and pepper the girl with knee strikes and force her to let go and back off.

However much to Minami's surprise this wasn't the case. Instead Keqing went with the force of the blows and turned over so she was out of range but maintained the grip and even transitioned into a more secure and safe choke! "Hmmm." Despite the discomfort she was feeling Minami was none the less intrigued.

Though not enough to just stay like this. So despite the impressive response Minami would throw her legs to the side, aiming to roll them over onto their sides. If successful Minami would try to get her feet under her, breaking the grip Keqing had on her to force her up as well. Keeping her arm around the girl's head MInami would then try and response by grabbing the girl's tights before throwing herself backwards, trying to hit her with a snap suplex!

[pu-level-up]

After scrambling into position to lock in the North-South choke, Keqing began cranking up the pressure immediately. She figured that either she had caught Toshimi off guard, in which she had a chance to choke out the veteran, or Toshimi had a counter to break free already in mind, in which case she needed to do as much damage as quickly as possible. Either way, Keqing planned to make this move count!

"Hrrr!" Keqing grunted as she squeezed down. She suddenly felt a sharp pull to the side, looking up to find that Toshimi was already making her move to break free! "No!" Keqing gasped, trying her best to muscle Toshimi back into place. But the veteran was too strong and too skilled, overpowering Keqing even though she had the hold locked in, rolling them both over onto their sides!

The Chinese athlete stubbornly held on to try and weaken Keqing as much as possible. That was a mistake, as Toshimi got her feet underneath her and pushed her way out of the hold, forcefully dragging Keqing up to her feet in the meanwhile. Keqing didn't realize what Toshimi was doing until it was too late, when the veteran grabbed her thighs and suddenly lifted her up!

"[color=#BF400FF]Oh no![/color]" Keqing gasped. It was too late for her to fight back! "WAAAH!" Keqing screamed as she got lifted up and thrown back, slamming hard on her back after Toshimi's snap suplex! "GAAAH!" Keqing gasped after landing with a loud thud. She rolled onto her back, arching upwards from the pain, eyes screwed shut as she sucked in shallow breaths from between gritted teeth.

[Bare]

Keqing had... dare Minami said it impressed her. Not a easy feat to accomplish in any way but Keqing had done so, albeit at the moment barely. But the technical prowess of the girl was at least on point, as was her focus on attempting to win. Both of which were things that Minami could respect. But she needed more.

Standing up after managing to drive the lavender haired girl into the mat with her suplex Minami would place her hands on her hips as she watched the girl writhe in agony on the mat with a almost... disappointed look on her face. "Well? Is this all?" The veteran would ask expectantly, not in the same outright mocking tone from before but in a more.... challenging way.

Although Minami wasn't the type to NOT mock someone beneath her when the opportunity presented itself. But in this case... she would use that attitude of hers as a... teaching aid. Raising her leg up the dark haired woman would place her foot on Keqing's face, slowly but surely adding pressure as she pressed her foot against Keqing's face.

Grinding her feel against her opponent Minami would look down at the girl with the eyes of a condor staring down on a mouse. "One little suplex and that's all you can manage?" She asked in what sounded like disbelief, even if slightly exaggerated. "By how you were acting I thought you were trying to beat me, not lay down for me." Minami asked again as she raised her leg once more, this time raising it to be parallel to her body, preparing a axe kick towards Keqing!

[pu-level-up]

Toshimi challenging but not mocking tone fired up Keqing, who tried her hardest to sit back up and continue the fight. Before she could though, she felt Toshimi's boot stamp down on her face. It infuriated the rookie to get stepped in like this, Keqing's eyes widening as she tried to push the foot away. "Don't step on me!" she growled, her hands reaching up to push Toshimi away. She needn't have bothered though, as after a moment Toshimi raised her foot up high to bring it down in a brutal axe kick!

It was a move Keqing saw clean through, an obvious frontal attack. Even when laid out on the mat she wasn't going to let something like that hit her. The speedy girl threw herself sideways, rolling to avoid the blow. Instead of rolling away though, she moved towards Toshimi, hoping to take out her legs while she was only on one foot!

"Let's see how you like it!" Keqing said as she rolled into Toshimi's leg and grabbed on, before twisting her body sharply to try and take out the only thing holding her up. Her goal was to send Toshimi tumbling onto the mat on her back. If successful, Keqing would quickly move to lock in a joint-lock submission of her own, kicking her legs around Toshimi's to scissor her around her thighs, before pulling back and trapping the veteran's ankle under her arm, trying to put Toshimi in a leg scissor ankle lock!

[Bare]

It had been quite a while since Minami was actually interested in a rookie. Largely because many lacked the discipline or training that made up the elite Minami had grown used to during her her time in Wrestle Angels. That was the gold standard to her, and many she felt didn't even come close to that, not even fit to be bronze tier in comparison.

But this girl? Well she could probably be put into bronze tier. Maybe Silver if Minami was being generous... or depending on how she responded in the next few minutes. Thats what would tell Minami the dedication she had and her self respect. More importantly however she was giving the girl a chance to make a perfect counter, a bait to see how intuitive the combat iq of the chinese girl was when presented with such a situation at being stepped on before setting up a axe kick.

Good news was that her stepping on the girl had done the trick and effectively threw lighter fluid into the girl's firey spirit. Now she had a blaze on her hands, a blaze that took the veteran's legs out beneath her and trapped her in a leg joint based submission! "Ngh!" Grunting in pain from the hold Minami would raise her leg up before shooting it forward aiming a kick at Keqing's legs!

'Not bad. Essentially two holds in one that takes advantage of my former position. Besides leaving herself open to some attacks this is fairly good.' Minami thought to herself, yet still not relenting on her kicks to Keqing's legs, trying to make the girl loosen her grip!

[pu-level-up]

As Keqing locked in her hold, she realized Toshimi was still toying with her. Instead of trying to break free, the veteran simply began kicking at her with her free leg, testing her will to hold on. Keqing wasn't willing to play this kind of a game. She wasn't about to get herself hurt just to prove a point to this veteran. But she also wasn't willing to just let Toshimi get off either with just a few kicks.

"Grrr... stop that!" Keqing grunted as Toshimi's heel repeatedly dug into her thigh. No doubt some nasty marks were forming on her skin underneath the tights she wore. Keqing had to think of a way out of this, otherwise she would have to let go once Toshimi increased the intensity of her hits.

The Chinese girl decided to transition her hold into one where Toshimi couldn't hit her. She twisted her entire body to the side, attempting to flip the both of them over onto their fronts, while still maintaining a tight grip on Toshimi's ankle so the veteran couldn't break free or get away. She would then straighten up as quickly as she could, pulling back on Toshimi's leg while simultaneously trying to sit back onto the small of the veteran's back! Her goal was to transition the ankle lock into a single-leg Boston Crab, getting out of the reach of Toshimi's leg while bending her over backwards to torture not just her ankle but her back as well!

"You're really forcing me to use a lot of moves I'm not familiar with," Keqing said as she made her move. This much was true, she wasn't particularly skilled or knowledgeable about grappling or submissions, but Toshimi was forcing her to fight this way!

[Bare]

Minami was in pain, this was true. Keqing's hold was surprisingly effective and the dark haired woman made no effort to hide how much so it was. But Minami was a veteran for a reason. She had experienced her fair share of agonizing moves and had delivered quite a few of her own in the process. That was why despite the pain she was in she was still keeping her composure, no sign of panic on her face as she bashed and drove her leg against Keqing's own. It was far from the most efficient way to escape but at the moment Minami needed to kill time still, seeing how Keqing responded to such a tactic would prove beneficial to her.

As it turned out the kicks she was throwing back were indeed effective, making the Chinese girl grunt and moan as each of Minami's kicks raced back and bashed her opponent's arms. But that wasn't all. Instead the kicks seemed to motivate the girl into acting with yet another submission.

Feeling herself rolled over by the purple haired girl Minami winced as her leg was pulled back by the rookie. "Ugh..." Grunting softly as her leg and spine was bent backwards by the girl Minami would admit it wasn't an ideal counter to her kicks, but it was decent. Something that was just effective enough despite not being particularly amazing.

The reason it wasn't ideal? Well that was because there was a very critical weakness to the hold overall, despite what some may have thought. "Tch... You should have used you're advantage to make it into something you were familiar with." Minami chastised to the girl as she reached over, grabbing the opponent by her ankle and if successful she would pull to the side, attempting to knock the girl's feet out from under her and break the submission!

[pu-level-up]

"If only it was that easy..." Keqing said. Fighting Toshimi on the mats was like wrestling with an octopus. Sure, right now the veteran wasn't trying too hard, even a rookie like Keqing could tell as much. But with every move she made, Toshimi had a counter at the ready. The rookie was learning quite a lot just from rolling around with the skilled veteran. If she had the chance, she would've liked to do some speedy high-flying, but she doubted Toshimi would give her any such opportunity.

Locking in the Boston Crab, Keqing pulled back and bent Toshimi's back as far as she could. She didn't get to hold it for long though, as after a moment she felt her ankle get tugged out from underneath her! "Oh!" she gasped, her foot slipping as she fell to her knee, grip loosening enough on Toshimi's leg that the veteran would easily kick free. That was an obvious way out she gave the veteran, and now she lost all her momentum.

Keqing had fallen to the side as her leg got swept out from under her. She had to break free before Toshimi put her in a submission. Taking a page from Toshimi's own book, Keqing aimed a kick with her free leg right at the veteran, trying to hit her hard enough to make her let go. As long as Toshimi held on to her and her other leg was free, she would keep on raining down kicks until she could free her leg and roll away to put some distance between them.