Yuki Kazikura vs. Satsuki Hayano - POW Match

[FreestylePoet]

As soon as Satsuki planted her palm on the canvas, the resulting blow became inevitable. In a fight, as in any athletic endeavor, the most vulnerable place a person can be in is the air. Hell, the same was even true in fighting games, based on Satsuki's experience in the arcade scene. Once gravity took over, an airborne athlete's path was predictable, and even the tiniest nudge could send them into a dangerous spill. All she had to do, then, was stick her legs up and let Yuki fall into them.

Even in that half-second, though, Satsuki found herself impatient. The call of battle was too hypnotic, Yuki too tempting a target. So even if all she could add onto her cartwheel kick was a short thrust of her legs into her foe's face, the Queen of Clubs was all but obliged to do so. That made the telltale smack of boot on skull even more grueling, sending both Satsuki and the crowd into a tizzy -- though for entirely different reasons.

She finished her roll, catching herself on a knee and rising. For a moment, she just stood there. Thrilling to the instant replay going on in her mind's eye. "That was a ballsy thing you just did." Satsuki spoke with no trace of malice or dishonesty. Only an excited shudder, if Yuki could hear it. "More of that, please." Then the rush of confronting a leaping superstar faded, and like the adrenaline junkie she was, Satsuki turned around, priming herself for more.

"Huh?" Only she wouldn't get it. Instead of upping the ante after coming out on the losing end of a risky wager, Yuki was in the middle of the ring. Crawling painedly -- not strategically, not eagerly, but painedly -- towards the ropes. It was then that Satsuki's mind wandered to the spattering of shrieks, screams, and winces that her opponent had given throughout the bout. Like any good poker player, she'd stumbled upon a pattern, but she didn't quite know what to make of it.

All she knew was that she didn't like it and that it warranted further investigation. Scowling, she jogged towards Yuki's side, taking a wide, curving route to build up speed before sliding to the ground! If this were soccer, the way she flung herself soles-first into Yuki's left knee would be wildly improper due to its injurious potential. Now, though it was just business. The hope was to take Yuki's crawling limbs out from under her once more -- this time in infinitely more painful manner!

[CaptainL]

It was supposed to be a moment of triumph. Yuki would sweep down from the ropes, ready to pounce on top of Satsuki with the full force of her descent - a move that would surely turn the tide back in her favor! But just at the last minute, Satsuki made her move - and everything ground to a halt. The Queen of Clubs kicked her foot skyward, and Yuki's lunge from the top rope only sent her face-first into the sole of her boot at top speeds! All grace and composure was lost as she dropped out of the air like a rock, flopping face-down on the mat beneath her opponent and leaving her head spinning. An entire side of her face felt numb, and she didn't know if she could find the strength in her to even look up.

Eventually, though, she did - little by little she caught her breath, rising up on her hands and knees and taking ragged gasps for air. She looked back over her shoulder, past the strands of hair that had fallen over her face, to hear her opponent's voice, and she sucked in a breath, going tense at the thought of what Satsuki thought of her. Was she taunting her? Her words seemed to suggest as much - but the tone of her voice was one of genuine excitement. Yuki had no idea what was on this woman's mind, and that just made her that much more frightening

Yuki clenched her teeth, shaking the thoughts out of her head. Getting stuck in her thoughts wasn't going to do her any good. She needed to get away from Satsuki, as quickly as possible, so that she could have the space she needed to recuperate. But each time she stretched out her arm to drag herself closer to the ropes, a shudder went through her body, leaving her wincing as she felt the tension on her muscles. The match had worn her down, and that would slow down her escape - it would slow it down just enough for Satsuki to see a moment of weakness she could pounce upon!

Lunging toward the dark-haired girl, Satsuki used the momentum of her stride to throw a kick into her knee. As her left leg exploded with pain, Yuki let out a yelp, falling flat onto her face. But even when the initial shock passed, a sinking feeling set into her - the knee Satsuki had aimed at was the same one that Skylar Jones had broken in their brutal no-DQ match, and the same one that had taken her out of action. Even now that she had returned to the ring and been cleared for competition, she still had a weak spot, the blow stirring up memories of the pain she'd endured. Not only did it hurt, the act of Satsuki targeting it left Yuki wondering just how much she knew. That, perhaps, was what hurt more, even more so than the physical aspect. Did Satsuki know which leg to target? Was she mocking her? Was it all part of the game she was playing? Or was she truly just so lucky, so seemingly all-knowing, that she'd landed on her weakest joint purely by chance?

Either way, Yuki rolled to the side, clenching her teeth in a pained grimace. She clutched at her wounded leg with both hands, struggling to hold back the tears forming in her eyes. She knew that she needed to get away - the thoughts were pounding at her skull. She just needed to will herself to move that much more!

[FreestylePoet]

Satsuki slid in like a bullet train, slamming her soles into Yuki's knee. She came up proudly beaming, as if it were her first time stealing second base. Only the crowd was far less friendly than that of a youth baseball game. They booed and hissed and scowled -- far more, she thought, than a relatively routine move deserved. Sure, her sliding kick carried the potential for grievous injury, but so did damn near everything else that happened in this ring. Wasn't that the point?

It only took another moment for Satsuki to properly read the room. They weren't grimacing out of simple disdain. No, there was meaning behind their calls. Some collective memory that the Queen of Clubs didn't share. It was as if everyone in the arena was privy to some inside joke except for her.

After that, one look at Yuki was all it took to put two and two together. The Dynamite Schoolgirl was downed, cradling her knee as she rocked back and forth. Her body couldn't decide whether to crawl or cover up, but her face was screwed into agony.

Another arrow in her quiver, then. Satsuki grinned devilishly at the thought before moving back towards the downed girl. Even as the boos swelled at her approach, Satsuki drowned them out in favor of the shuddering, pained pants that she could barely make out from Yuki's lips. She took up that same leg, harshly yanking it out of her opponent's clutches. For a moment, she simply inspected it in her hands. "I didn't know you were hurt," she murmured, her eyes flickering to lock onto Yuki's. What emotions were running through the Schoolgirl's mind?

Then that grin widened once more. "A lucky stroke for me!" Then she rolled to her side, twisting it suddenly for a grounded Dragon Screw! Once she hit the mat, she wrapped her legs around Yuki's left one, setting up for a brutal kneebar! But she wouldn't torque. Not yet. No, first she needed to see how Yuki would react to this turn of events. Surely she knew what was coming -- her weakest spot was about to be targeted with lethal intent. Would she struggle like prey within a snake's grip? Or wither like a weed in the wind?

Spoiler

[CaptainL]

Yuki's teeth were locked tightly into a grimace, and her brow furrowed as her eyelid twitched; she was focusing all her effort into not letting the pain she was in shine through, no matter how much it might have hurt. Having the very leg that she'd just recovered from having broken being targeted by Satsuki's kicks sent a surge through her nerves, reawakening the pain she'd felt when Skylar had snapped a folding chair shut around her knee. But what was perhaps even worse was admitting it. In recoiling in pain, Yuki had shown her opponent a weak point, one that could only be used against her. And worse than that...she had admitted that she'd let herself be bested before, in a match that was painful even to think back on.

Yuki's fingers coiled tighter around the canvas as she tried to get a good grip on the mat beneath her, struggling to pull herself away. "I'm...not..." she said, whispering in a voice low enough to slip be heard only by Satsuki herself. But even then, the Queen of Clubs could hear the pause and the hesitation, the wilting murmur in Yuki's voice. Any attempts she made of looking tough were futile. She was lying, and everyone knew it.

Which Satsuki would make the most of, as she grabbed for her opponent's leg and rolled herself over to take the two of them to the mat! Yuki was forced onto her side, her body slapping against the canvas as she let out a cry of pain from the torque on her aching limb. But the worst was yet to come. Yuki looked back, seeing Satsuki's legs come up and coil around her own. She began to pant anxiously, and her eyes widened in shock. She knew exactly what was coming. Satsuki knew how to cause her true agony, and she wasn't afraid to do it!

Yuki shook herself, biting at her lip. No, she told herself - she couldn't falter now! She still had a chance to do something before Satsuki locked in her hold, and needed to take that chance! The wide-eyed stare on her face turned to a stony look of defiance, as she turned back around to claw at the canvas once again, dragging herself toward the rope! She hissed and groaned with each inch she moved, feeling the tension on her leg, but her hand slapped against the mat with a strenght born of defiance as she dragged herself closer and closer! If she got near enough to the ropes, she would reach out with a quivering hand, looking to grab them for a rope break!

[FreestylePoet]

There it was. All this time, Yuki Kazikura had been fighting to patch every crack in her armor before it grew too big. She wanted so desperately to pretend that this stage of theirs didn't bring an ounce of pressure, flitting between barely-hidden panic and shoddily-built resolve. But that wouldn't do. After all, risk assumed vulnerability. More than that, it assumed recognizing that vulnerability. That was what Satsuki had quickly learned to hate at LAW: So many wrestlers here focused so hard on presenting themselves as the biggest or the baddest or the most "worthy" that they forgot what it was like to just fight for their lives.

Hence this kneebar. Wherever Yuki's mind had been throughout this fight, it certainly wasn't all in this ring, and that was an insult that she just couldn't abide. Emotions like that were like armor -- just as likely to empower you as it was to weigh you down. Which was it for Yuki? The only way for Satsuki to peer past that suit was to demand her undivided attention, and she would tear away every last plate just to coax out whatever truth lived inside.

Now that they were finally being honest with one another, however, Satsuki was far less interested in the kneebar itself and far more interested in how Yuki would react to it. Satsuki assumed that some trauma laid behind whatever yips Yuki had with her knee, and without action, that memory would inevitably get a lot worse with the wrenching of this hold. That cornered her.

The option Yuki chose, however, earned a chuckle from the Queen of Clubs. "Oh, Yuki," she tutted, sounding more like a disappointed tutor than a bitter foe. "That won't get you anywhere." Even if she had to applaud the young wrestler for gritting her teeth and trying to fight through this... Seriously? Her best idea was to crawl away?

Oh well. Poor decisions bore worse outcomes, and why should Yuki be an exception? Satsuki leaned back, spreading her weight and making it harder for the Schoolgirl to drag. Then, licking her chops at the prospect, Satsuki waited once more, if only to watch Yuki's desperate journey to the ropes bear less and less fruit. Every effortful gasp wasted, every vain scrabble at the canvas was a treat. Finally, she pulled. The kneebar finally made good on its threat: She sought to straighten Yuki's leg and then some, applying as much strength as her lithe body could muster to the task of bending Yuki's leg in half!

Spoiler

[CaptainL]

Even before Satsuki had the kneebar applied, the very sensation of her leg pressed down against Yuki's own was enough to spur on her survival instincts, sending her heart pounding and her teeth clenching. It didn't hurt all that much more than having her already sore leg targeted normally would. But Yuki knew what this position promised. If Satsuki had her way, she was going to tear her leg apart, and she wasn't even sure if she'd have anything left to stand on by the time it was over. Yuki had just made her return from a leg injury - she wasn't going to let it happen again! She'd taken too much time off to wind up back at square one! She strained and groaned as she forced her body to move, dragging herself along the canvas - she was fighting against the load of Satsuki's weight on her leg, and the awkward position she was in, but the threat of what was to come - the knowledge that if she failed now, what would happen next would be even worse - was enough to motivate her!

But as Yuki dragged herself along the mat, she heard something from behind her. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Yuki looked back over her shoulder - and something dropped in the pit of her stomach when she realized where it was coming from. Satsuki had seen that she was trying to escape - to run away from her problems - and she was disappointed in her. She'd expected better from a woman who had challenged for the Lightweight Championship before, and Yuki wasn't living up to what her reputation promised. That was when it hit Yuki that, just maybe, her worst fears were right. Maybe she really was hopeless - she was too consumed with fear to remember how to fight back! Was that all she was? A coward and a failure? Even her opponent could see it!

The thoughts in her head were weighing Yuki down, causing her to slow in her escape. That was what Satsuki needed. As the dark-haired girl continued to flail hopelessly, pawing at the canvas to try and move herself just an inch further, she struck - she leaned back, applying the full force of her leverage against her opponent's knee!

As she felt the pain erupt through her leg, Yuki threw her head back with a scream, her eyes squeezing tight as she tried to hold back the tears. This was her fault, she told herself. Her hesitation had gotten her into this; it had been what Satsuki had seen in her that told her she was weak, that she was vulnerable, that she stood no chance when she went in for the kill. Now, she was trapped. Her arm stretched out in front of her, but fell limp against the ground, just shy of the ropes. Yuki tried to will herself to move just a little bit more, writhing from side to side now in an attempt to crawl across the ground like a worm, but when her hips rocked it only put more strain on her leg, causing her to yelp in pain. Now, she knew, there was no hope - she could never get to the ropes in time!

But, at that moment, even through the haze of pain that she was lost in, one thought came to Yuki, bright and crystal clear. She didn't need to go for the ropes. She could fight back! She had, after all, been a number-one contender before. She'd taken on Rose Gold herself. She had been selected for the Lightweight Classic. The only reason she would be weak and cowardly and hopeless was if she wanted to be. But she was better than that! She could prove it!

Yuki's teeth clenched, but rather than a cry of pain, what came from behind her grimace was the proud call of a warrior. Pushing herself off the ground, she rolled onto her side in order to give herself more room to work with. She raised her free leg, planting it against the side of Satsuki's thigh to brace herself. She would wait for a moment where her opponent began to slacken - then, she would push the sole of her boot into the back of her bent knee, attempting to pry her leg off! The veins in her neck bulged and her brow ran with sweat; she was willing to put every inch of her strength into this, just to prove that she could! If she could successfully dislodge the leg enclosing her own, Yuki would then roll to her back, keeping her leg in the middle of Satsuki's own before she grabbed at her straight leg by the ankle to pull it down onto her shin with a calf slicer!

[FreestylePoet]

Weakness was always revealed. Unlike a gambler with a chronic obsession with playing suboptimal hands, however, Yuki couldn't simply leave the table once the cat was out of the bag. No, the only way out was at Satsuki's knees or with the Queen of Clubs at her own. Until then, each wrestler would be subject to the full arsenal of the other. In a contest where Satsuki had so many options with which to push her opponent further to the brink -- weaponizing the crowd, flinging choice insults, being utterly unpredictable in her fighting style -- revealing one more in the form of her knee might have been a deadly mistake on Yuki's part.

Satsuki was no esper; she couldn't see into the past or in Yuki's head. There was no way for her to know what had happened to the Dynamite Schoolgirl's knee in the past. Even so, all she needed to know was that it was a weak point for her, either physically or mentally or both. So Satsuki pulled and pulled, hoping to make whatever pain she'd had before feel like a pinprick in comparison.

All the while, she looked into her opponent's eyes with curious intensity. The screams themselves gave her no pleasure; after all, Satsuki wasn't a sadist. Those pained shrieks signaled something that she was very interested in: The shredding of Yuki's knee cornered her like an animal. In this sort of high-stakes position, would Yuki bare her fangs or simply roll over?

Yuki's face answered that question before her actions did. When that tight-lipped grimace turned into a proud clench of effort, Satsuki's grin widened, and when Yuki posted her foot onto Satsuki's inner knee, the Queen of Clubs would honor that willpower by refusing to give up her hold. "Hrrh...!" Her brow furrowed with exertion as she tightened her hold, but leverage and desperation were on Yuki's side. It wasn't long until Yuki freed herself, and after that-

"Oof-!" Satsuki found herself flipped right over! She landed on the canvas with a grunt, looking behind her with a sweat-stained but impressed eyebrow. "Now wha- Ghhk!" Before she could toss another taunt Yuki's way, a sharp pressure built up in her fibula. Now her own leg was folded in two, courtesy of a wicked Calf Slicer from Yuki! Satsuki slapped the canvas in equal parts pain and frustration; though she'd invited this resistance, having her position flipped right out from under her was extremely angering. Pain shot up her leg, just as it had presumably done through Yuki's. Satsuki barely held back her screams, channeling all that hate into a steely, dilated gaze locked right on her foe!

[CaptainL]

Up until this point, Yuki's leg hadn't been bothering her. She'd healed enough to be cleared to compete, and she could get around just fine. It didn't even hurt. But when Satsuki pulled her into a kneebar, it felt as though all the progress she'd made had suddenly been reversed. In one moment, all the pain she had felt when Skylar had first broken her leg was flooding back to her. It was almost unbearable; her eyes watered and she cried out in pain, and she dragged herself toward the ropes just out of a desire to make it stop.

But then Satsuki reminded her that she wasn't here to run away. She wasn't a coward, no matter what anyone might say, and no matter how the press had rushed to publish articles on her supposed fall from grace after her surprising loss in the Lightweight Classic. This match was her chance to turn that around, and she wouldn't reclaim her reputation by relying on a rope break to save her hide! Clenching her teeth, Yuki let her body tense up, reminding herself of her own strength. She still had the power to break this - no, she needed to!

She had to fight against the pain and pressure on her body in order to bring herself to move, but, slowly but surely, Yuki managed to pry Satsuki's leg off of her own, forcing it away little by little. She threw her head back, clenching her teeth as she tried to bear through the pain, but sure enough, she managed to loosen Satsuki's grip - and as she rolled over to destabilize Satsuki's mount on her, she was free!

Yuki panted for breath to try and get the air back in her lungs, but she knew she couldn't be done yet. She needed to seize on the opportunity to counter while she still could - and, taking advantage of the positioning, she grabbed onto the pink-haired girl's leg to pull it downward onto her shin! Now it was Yuki's turn to target her opponent's leg, as she put on the pressure of the calf slicer! Her fingers coiled tighter around Satsuki's ankle as she held her leg in place, arching her spine to put more leverage into it. She let out not a cry of pain but a roar of defiance - she had to pay Satsuki back for all the pain she'd caused her!

However, Yuki couldn't hold on forever. She had never been much of a submission specialist, and in forcing Satsuki's leg down onto her own, she was putting more pressure onto her already sore joint. She tried to bear through it as long as she could, knowing that it would be worth it to put the pressure on Satsuki, but it couldn't last. Eventually, she was forced to let her go, dropping her leg and rolling backward to put distance between herself and her opponent. There, she rose to her feet, wiping off her brow as she caught her breath. She could just hope that she'd been successful at slowing Satsuki down!

[FreestylePoet]

Excruciating. That was the only word that Satsuki could use to describe this hold. The two bones of her lower leg seemed to creak, and the muscles surrounding her calf and knee struggled just to stay attached. She didn't know the mechanics of this hold well enough to determine the risk of damage, but it hurt. "Fuck! Let GO!" she roared, a vein bulging in her head just from summoning the willpower to survive. Her free leg pistoned behind her, hoping to catch Yuki with a blind donkey kick. No such luck. Satsuki began to wince, preparing for the sickening pop of displaced tendon and bone -- because she'd be damned to surrender to such a sudden turnaround.

Before she could shriek in pain, however... Yuki released the hold. Her face of pain unscrewed into bewilderment, forcing a moment of disbelief. An instant later, Satsuki followed her opponent's example and kipped up to disengage. As soon as she hit the canvas, though, another pang of red seared through her knee. Satsuki stumbled, turning to backpedal away from Yuki.

When she stopped, Satsuki was still wincing. Her breath was unexpectedly heavy, and her skin was slick with a sheen of sweat from forehead to torso. She'd settled into a defensive posture. She loaded up on her front foot and let the other graze the mat behind her. A perfect stance to unleash a quick, reactive kick... Or to favor a wounded leg. Satsuki hoped that her opponent hadn't noticed her weakness. Not after the Queen of Clubs had found Yuki's own.

"Stupid to let go." The wavering in her voice surprised even Satsuki herself. A swallow was all she had to try and steel it before continuing. "I don't waste second chances. And you won't be in a position to give me a third." And yet, she didn't advance. Words alone were unlikely to pose a threat, but Satsuki was unwilling to jump back into the fray with her leg in such a state.

[CaptainL]

For a moment, Yuki felt like she had it. For once, she was in control - she felt like she knew what to do, and what was going on. She had Satsuki right where she needed her for everything to fall into place! But she couldn't stop to contemplate her successes. She couldn't take her attention off of Satsuki for a moment! The last thing she wanted was to relinquish the control she so yearned for!

But, while the calf slicer was something Yuki could easily transition to from the position she was in, it was a double-edged sword - it forced her to put pressure on her own knee, the same knee that had been aching from the hold she had just been in. The harder she cranked down on Satsuki's leg, as much as she knew it was dealing the damage she needed it to, the harder her own knee was being compressed, and the pain was building more and more. She grit her teeth and tried to bear it out, hoping it would be Satsuki who would take the brunt of the force, but there was a point where it grew too much to bear. Yuki had no choice but to let her go and to roll aside, bringing the two of them back to square one. As she climbed wincing to her feet she leaned against the ropes, holding onto them to stabilize her as she caught her breath and stared across at her opponent to look her dead in the eye.

The next thing out of Satsuki's mouth only made the tension in Yuki's body grow tighter still. Her eyes widened as she heard the words, and a moment later, as their meaning set in, she let out a hiss through clenched teeth and she leaned closer to the gambler. She had just scored a serious blow against Satsuki, one that could well set her back for the rest of the match - and still she was doubting her. Yuki's teeth ground against each other, and her knuckles grew white as her fingers coiled tenaciously around the ropes. If Satsuki was going to taunt her, Yuki had to show her what she was dealing with. She would show her just who the girl wasting second chances was!

Satsuki was keeping her distance, staying across the ring from Yuki. But that didn't concern her at all. She would just bring the fight to Satsuki herself! Nodding her head in an agreement to do her worst, she hopped up on the bottom rope, then pushed herself back against the ropes to stretch them against her weight. Then, she would hurl herself toward Satsuki, using the ropes like a slingshot to hurl her in the girl's direction, with her knees raised to ram into her!