Yuki Kazikura vs. Satsuki Hayano - POW Match

[FreestylePoet]

What just happened?

That was the only thought occupying Satsuki's mind. One moment, she was lamenting the loss of her prized quarry to cowardice, and the next, she was left gaping up at the stage lights. Another, and she was upright once more, seemingly tugged to her feet. She only had time to look at the white-knuckled grip on her wrist.

Before her eyes could flicker back up, Yuki began her assault.

"Gah-! Dzh-! Nggh-!" Every blow was like a stone: Painful on its own but ultimately incapable of leaving much more than a pockmark. But even stones en masse could become a meteor shower! In mere seconds, Yuki's fists peppered her torso dozens of times! They came faster and faster with each passing moment. Each one staggered Satsuki an imperceptible amount, bowed her frame inwards by half a measure, and forced the smallest bit of air from her lungs. But by the time it was over, the combination jabs left her doubled over!

Satsuki gasped for air, her lungs spasming at the mere attempt. On her skin, it felt like a thousand pinpoints were flaring into nascent bruises. She spared a look at her resurgent foe. What she saw froze her. Instinct begged Satsuki to dodge, to run, to fight. But pain forced her not to. Pain, and the sheer shock at the new woman standing in front of her.

Yuki stood tall, haloed in a whirlwind of raven locks and the sweat that symbolized a renewed effort. Furrowed brows framed a gaze that had caught fire – a fire that burned Satsuki in its wake! And when she grabbed the Queen of Clubs once more, she moved with a purpose that Satsuki hadn't seen before.

Noticing all that, however, didn't help Satsuki once she saw what was coming. "No- GAAH!" The rainmaker flattened Satsuki once more! It did more than that, sending her reeling back head over heels! She fell on her upper back once more, crackling a body already wracked with pain. Then she bounced almost comically on the canvas, flipping unceremoniously onto her front side.

She caught herself on shaky palms and scraped knees, coughing as she pushed herself up to scowl at the woman who still stood. "What…?" she wheezed out, her voice ragged with both disdain and pain. "Why… Why now?"

[CaptainL]

The time for running away, for shrinking back in fear, for regrets and fears and despair...all of that was over. At the last minute, right when yet another humiliating defeat was staring her in the face, Yuki found the motivation in her that she needed to ensure this time it would be different. Now was the time for her to make a comeback - and if she had any say in the matter, it would be a comeback to make up for everything; to show the world that she did belong up here on the main card! Yuki might have slipped behind Satsuki when it came to handling this match. But this time, she wouldn't let it cost her the victory - and now, she was ready to prove she really could be the opponent Satsuki wanted her to be.

With each punch Yuki landed, the crowd began to cheer louder and louder, whipped up into a fervor that sent them jumping up from their seats. It wasn't just Yuki who felt weighed down by every loss. For many in the stands, the girl's appeal was that she was an ordinary person, just like them, with friends, a life, and worldly concerns - but when she got in the ring, when she dominated the match and took the win, she could prove that that potential for greatness was in everyone, to give the people someone they could be proud of, and that they could hope to be. When her career had been overshadowed by loss after loss, with her constantly trying to prove herself against greater and greater challenges but always coming up short, some had begun to lose faith in her - like Satsuki, they too asked themselves if there was any hope for Yuki, and if she really had lost her touch. Some had moved on to other things, confident that the girl they had once cheered for and supported every step of the way could only disappoint them. But the most dedicated of Yuki's followers still stood by her, hoping that one day they could see her take back her good name. And tonight, they would be vindicated.

And in the middle of it all, Yuki, too, was vindicated. She had worked hard, training herself through long hours, forcing her body to bend and bleed and suffer for the sake of just getting one good win that could turn everything around. Time and time again, her hopes had been tested, and they came up short. But this time...maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't have to. Maybe this was the day she'd been waiting for!

A smile crossed Yuki's face as she slammed her forearm against Satsuki's chest, dropping her to the mat. Then, though, she turned her attention to the ropes. Satsuki was down, but there was still work to do. Now that her foe was grounded, she was vulnerable to what she did best - she needed to take to the air to deliver a blow that would truly shake her! This was her chance, and the consequences of wasting it was too great. She had to strike!

Climbing up to the middle rope, Yuki let out a battle cry before throwing herself backward, extending her elbow to slam it across Satsuki's stomach! A moment ago, she was whipping herself up into a frenzy, landing strike after strike to try and blindside her opponent with her ferocity - but this time, as Yuki stopped to catch her breath, she sank down a little lower against Satsuki, and she turned her head back to look her in the eye, taking a pause for just a moment.

"Why...now?" she said. "Because...this is what I need to do. You were right. You were right about everything. I can't run away any more, you showed that to me! I...honestly need to thank you for that."

[FreestylePoet]

Satsuki pushed herself off her front, only to flop right back down onto the canvas. Now facing up, Satsuki's injured expression was displayed to the world. Even as the reflexes of her life as a freerunning street rat kicked in to mute her pained expression, the erratic rise-and-fall of her chest was an undeniable sign of her injury.

When she finally blinked the blear from her eyes, Satsuki's gaze roved around the ring as fast as she could make it. Where was Kazikura now? When she found the younger girl climbing up to the second rope, Satsuki's eyes went wide. "Fuck! Gotta... Dammit!" Satsuki's hips and thighs flexed slightly, as if she were trying to will them into motion, but her body refused to cooperate.

And she was punished for her inaction with a sudden elbow drop! "GUUH-!" Her gut folded around Yuki's arm, propelled by years of experience turning gravity into a weapon. Arms and legs alike kicked into the air as a puff of air was forced from her lips!

When Yuki spoke, despite herself, Satsuki strained to listen... Only to find herself bewildered by what came out of her foe's mouth. Yuki acknowledged what millions around the world already knew: Satsuki was right. Yuki Kazikura was a coward, though the Schoolgirl herself didn't say it in so many words. Even so, she was... thanking her for the realization? Bullshit. Yuki had no idea what she was saying, the disrespect she was showing.

Her arm shot into the air, fingers splayed out – a new reflex learned from her time in LAW that would prevent a pin. "E... E...!" Even this seemingly defensive motion, however, had a purpose. Satsuki curled her hand into a raging, shaky fist, mustering up the energy to make good on her plans. "Enough!" And then she pulled down, as if intending to yank Yuki's rising star out from the sky itself! The motion would hopefully bring her elbow streaking across the side of Yuki's head, delivering a sudden blow right on the button!

Satsuki then attempted to push Yuki off of her; if successful, she would quickly stagger to her feet and scrabble away. The crowd murmured at Satsuki's posture when she stopped at the other side of the ring. She stood bent over, one arm clutching her stomach as she glared daggers at Yuki. Behind the pained grimace, however, there was a scowl.

Those who'd seen even a second of Satsuki's matches knew that a good contest was her drug of choice. This kind of effort would have thrilled Satsuki... had it not come at the end of a pitiful display on Yuki's part. The death throes of a dying star may have been beautiful, but it only came after a period of cool, boring dormancy. The inevitable fading of stardust into blackness matched that far more than the temporary supernova. At the end of the day, Yuki was no better than Mikan. Yet another disappointment. Yuki herself just didn't know it yet.

"What's the point of this?" she asked. "You've shown us who you are!" The arm that wasn't cradling her bruised belly wavered as it pointed accusatorily at Yuki, then out of the ring, then back again. "All you're doing is wasting everyone's time!"

[CaptainL]

Yuki had tried to catch her breath, but it was barely any time at all before the match kicked back into gear. Satsuki wasted no time in reminding her that, no matter what happened, the two of them weren't friends. She wasn't even going to accept Yuki's admission that Satsuki had helped her find the inspiration she needed to carry through with the match, not when she still couldn't hope to match what the pink-haired girl had wanted out of her. She quickly swung out with her fist, landing a blow along the side of Yuki's head that struck with a crack. Her body went reeling in an arc; she groaned through clenched teeth as she was swept to the side, dropping to her back as her opponent shoved her off. There, as Yuki lay panting, Satsuki scrambled back into the ring.

But Yuki wouldn't let herself stay down for long. Even now, even when she had made the comeback she'd promised to the world and to herself for longer than she could remember, it wasn't enough for Satsuki. And that meant that Yuki just needed to push herself even further in order to set the matter straight! She lifted herself up off the floor, propping herself up on her elbows as she shot a withering glare back in Satsuki's direction. If she was out to prove herself, she was going to prove that this wasn't going to stop her. She was only getting started!

In a matter of seconds, Yuki shoved her entire body off the floor, springing back to her feet with a kip-up. She winced a little; her body still hurt even as she centered herself on her feet, but that wouldn't matter when there were things much more important at stake! She took a few steps forward before springing onto the apron, where she leaned forward with her hands braced against the top to lock a glare straight into Satsuki's eyes. "No, I haven't," she cut back. "What you've been seeing...is what I've let myself become, when I've grown too complacent with who I am and what I can do. But there's so much more to me than that! And now, it's about time I showed that to you!!"

Yuki's defiant retort was backed by a cheer from the crowd. She leaned forward to push her hands against the top rope, and then, with a graceful flourish, she flipped herself over, vaulting into the ring and landing on her feet with all the poise of a well-practiced gymnast. Yuki wanted to show that she still had the coordination and agility that had won her success in the past - but she also wanted to show it wasn't all for show. She got her fair share of cheers, but she wasn't going to stop and bask in the attention, or let it all go to her head. Instead, she focused her glare on Satsuki once again as she bent down to one knee, then took off as fast as she could to ram into her with a shoulder charge!

[FreestylePoet]

Everything hurt. Her pride most of all, wounded by the grievous insult that Yuki had leveled against her by fighting this way. Yuki offered her a glimpse of who she might've been in the past, mere minutes after mewling pathetically in the ring. It was mockery, to say the least. The paradox was that she couldn't act on that indignation. The aches across her lithe form diluted what would've otherwise been choice fuel for action.

All the while, Yuki was putting on her mummer's farce, telling the raucous crowd whatever they needed to feel good about themselves -- to feel good about her. The task seemed to energize her, or at least what played for energizing in this facade. With that next act complete, she charged! Yuki kicked off the canvas and rushed towards her, shoulder leveled for a massive body check!

Satsuki clenched her jaw. Ordinarily, that would a prime opportunity to throw herself into the fire and come out with a hard-won counter. A swift superkick to the head, a sudden leap into a tilt-a-whirl DDT, even a simple drop toe hold. Each was an option that ran through her mind's eye, but each was something that would demand far too much from her wracked body. All she could do was try to stand straight, clutch her injured abdomen, and fix an icy glare at the oncoming joshi.

Still, she wouldn't let herself be beaten. Not by this. If willing her body to move proved an insurmountable task, then Satsuki would have to end this quick. She waited and waited and waited as Yuki charged her.

Then, at the last second, she stepped to the side! Every muscle in her legs was lead, but if she managed to dodge, she would swing her arm wide in a swimmer's stroke, seeking to spur Yuki on as she passed by harmlessly. The result: Yuki would bounce off the ropes and rebound towards Satsuki! Satsuki would then turn around and fire her knee into her opponent's torso with an agonized scream, hoping to double her over!

Seconds passed as Satsuki recovered from the exertion. When she finally caught her breath, she gripped Yuki's hips, looking disdainfully at the folded form of the Dynamite Schoolgirl. "Your true colors are embarrassing," she whispered with scorn, letting her knee linger in Yuki's gut. "The death throes of a dying star are nothing to be proud of. This is your last chance." Finally, Satsuki lowered her leg. But her grip on Yuki remained. "Leave, or I'll bury you."

[CaptainL]

It had been a long time coming, but the cowardly, hopeless Yuki held back by her anxieties and doubts was a thing of the past now. She was through running away. She was through shrinking back from challenges. Now, Yuki could finally realize that her chance to prove herself was right here, in front of her, and all she needed to do was to reach out and take it. As she came charging forward, she went running toward the future. The past was behind her; now, with each stride, each fall of her boot against the mat, Yuki was pushing herself a step closer to a tomorrow where she would reclaim her glories, one where no one would mock her or belittle her again, and one where all could see her realize the potential that had been hers all long. The world seemed to streak by in a blur, going faster and faster. Her eyes narrowed, focusing in on Satsuki as she came closer and closer, and all she could hear was the roar of the crowd cheering on every move she made. There was no turning back. There was no slowing down.

Yuki had accepted a collision with Satsuki as an inevitability. There was no way it could be anything else - everything had been building up so perfectly to this moment, where after she'd been shamed and humbled the whole way through she would finally prove her opponent wrong. But then, at the last moment...Satsuki dodged. She swerved out of the way with just seconds to spare, pushing Yuki along as she went and leaving her to hit the ropes and bounce off of them!

Now the raven-haired girl's mouth dropped into a gasp as she came bounding back at Satsuki, with no way of slowing herself down. What was supposed to be her moment of triumph, a pivotal victory to turn everything around, had now become the very instrument of her downfall. And when Yuki turned around to see herself closing in on her opponent at a breakneck pace, her eyes went wider, just before she ran straight into the path of Satsuki's raised knee!

The blow landed with a thud. Yuki let out a cough, the air knocked out of her lungs as she bent over forward to slump against Satsuki's frame. She had been riding high on adrenaline, thinking she had the push she needed to succeed, but when all her momentum had run right into a wall, suddenly all the fight and vigor in her drained away. She gasped for air, her face red and her eyes glazed over. It was only thanks to Satsuki's grip on her that she was even managing to hold herself upright. The pain of the knee strike still lingered with a dull throb in her abdomen - but what was even worse was how all the while, she needed to listen to Satsuki mock her, reminding her how yet again she'd come just short of success. Yuki's teeth clenched in frustration, and her hand balled into a tight fist. She hated that this kept happening, she wanted so badly to make a change...so why couldn't she?

[FreestylePoet]

Perhaps some wrestling purists out there would have loved this match. After all, on the surface level, it had everything they might want: Spirited combatants, a back-and-forth tenor, and daring attacks from both wrestlers. More than that, it was ostensibly the biggest match of Satsuki's career thus far, and it was a comeback attempt for a fan favorite in Yuki Kazikura. Satsuki, however, was hardly a wrestling purist. All those same elements were toothless in the face of their insincerity. Yuki wasn't an opponent. She was a training dummy who thought she had a soul.

She sneered at her hurt foe. "No more witty remarks? No more bullshit about how you've 'still got more to show'?" Satsuki harumphed dismissively. "So we're right back to where we would've been if you hadn't wasted our time." She reached around the doubled-over Yuki's back, bundling up the Dynamite Schoolgirl's arms and legs. Then, with a heave, she leaned back and lifted Yuki up into a piledriver position!

There she held Yuki, suspended in the air like the Sword of Damocles. Everyone in the arena knew what was coming next. Satsuki was preparing to end this match with the very same Package Piledriver to Shame Hold combo that had capped off her very first victory in LAW. The one that had subjected Vanessa Vixen to ten minutes of torture at Satsuki's hands, and which would surely damn Yuki to even worse. The Queen of Clubs's first finisher: Splash the Pot!

The crowd pled Yuki's case. They reached out, making last-ditch exhortations for mercy. But there would be none. This farce of a match would finally come to an end.

"Goodbye, Yuki."

She jumped. Sat out. And made to plant Yuki's head into the canvas!

[CaptainL]

Yuki had frozen up. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth hung open in a gape, her face going pale as the blood drained away from her cheeks in shock. As Satsuki lifted her higher, she could feel her boots leave the canvas; as she turned over to leave her head pointed toward the ground, her hair hung low and all the blood in her body began to rush toward her head. But now all Yuki could feel was the slow thump of her heart in her chest as she awaited the inevitable. There was no use in fighting it, and nothing she could do could stave this off. Yuki had no choice but to recognize that...she had been beaten. She'd tried and tried, just as she'd always had, but in the end, it wasn't enough.

Now, as she stared out into the distance, seeing the world upside down, all Yuki could do was wait - wait, and reflect on her failure. Her lip began to tremble, and a tear welled up in the corner of her eye. This was supposed to be her comeback. This was supposed to turn everything around. This was supposed to prove that she still belonged in the ring, and that she could make all this work. But this time, just like every other time...it hadn't. At the last moment, it had all ground to a halt, and now all Yuki could do was to await the inevitable fall. She clenched her teeth, bracing each muscle in her body. She knew she was going to drop - but she could at least make sure she could withstand the impact as much as possible...

Wait. No.

At that moment, one thought crossed Yuki's mind. And as it did, her body stiffened and her breath slowed as she held herself at attention. She had seen Satsuki and her matches before. She knew what she was setting up. She knew exactly what this meant. She wasn't going to stop at just driving Yuki's skull into the canvas, no - that was only the first part of the pink-haired woman's finisher. After Yuki was out, then would come...the shame hold.

The same hold she had suffered in her now-infamous match against Rose Gold - the match that, if it hadn't been the start of Yuki's losing streak, at least heralded what was to come. Being held upside down like that, her legs spread and her groin pointed directly into the camera, had been the lowest and most humiliating moment of Yuki's entire career. Not only had she lost, in her first foray into the company's flagship event, but she had lost in a shameful, degrading manner, in front of more eyes than she'd ever stood before in her life. Crushed under the weight of the humiliation, Yuki had withdrawn from the public eye for a time afterward. And Rose Gold had been just as eager to remind everyone of her of her defeat any time she had a chance - she had, after all, broadcast the very moment of her defeat over the big screen when Yuki was about to advance in the Lightweight Classic, and when she had locked up in shock it had given her opponent the opportunity she needed to move in for the kill. Yuki knew she couldn't afford to let that happen to her again...but that was exactly what Satsuki was about to do.

And in that moment, Yuki's teeth clenched in a snarl. Her fists balled tightly at her sides, her nails digging into her palms. She couldn't let it happen to her again. No matter what she'd been through, no matter what she'd endured...Yuki could still fight, if it meant pulling herself out from the jaws of a defeat she couldn't withstand!

"HAAAAAHHH!!"

A scream of pure rage and defiance cut through the air. And with it, Yuki kicked out her leg as fast and as hard as she could, in an attempt to break it free from Satsuki's grasp! If she could swing her leverage around, and topple the stance with which her opponent had set up the piledriver, that would be all she needed!

[FreestylePoet]

She took no mirth in this. While planting Yuki's head into the canvas would be a crowning achievement for many wrestlers, Satsuki was the loser in all but name here. She'd been cheated out of a real fight -- the one and only thing she'd come to LAW for. That was because the Dynamite Schoolgirl hadn't been at her best. A mere ghost of the original had wandered this ring tonight, and when exorcism failed, Satsuki's duty was to merely banish the demon.

That was the design behind her use of Splash the Pot. Truth be told, she'd thought up some new finishers; this one hardly fit her anymore. There was humiliation, yes, but hardly any style or panache. That made it perfect. A pedestrian finish to a pedestrian match. And if Yuki was knocked out before the shame hold had to come into play, that would be all the better. So Satsuki leapt, waiting for the telltale thud to signal the final phase of the assault.

Suddenly, an ear-splitting shriek pierced the air! The bundled weight in Satsuki's arms then shifted, and a single leg pistoned into the air! The pinkette had to flinch to avoid taking a kick to the chin. When Satsuki landed, she was on her ass, but Yuki was nowhere to be found! "Wha-?!" She whipped her head around, only to see that Yuki was now on the ground as well -- decidedly not clutching an injured cranium!

Instinct took over at this point, a sudden flurry of activity despite the relative lethargy with which Satsuki had approached the last minute or so. Her feet tucked in underneath her thighs, and she pushed herself up onto her knees with a lithe sort of dexterity. Panther-like, she reached out towards Yuki with a sudden lunge, hoping to pounce on the Dynamite Schoolgirl!

[CaptainL]

Satsuki had been confident that she already had this match won. To her, this was no great triumph, and no accomplishment worth boasting over, no matter how much she might have wished it so. Yuki had shown her nothing but disappointment, and she had failed to do anything short of prove herself remarkably underwhelming. All she was looking to do now was to put her out of her misery before her hopeless flailing ended up embarrassing her more.

But what Satsuki didn't realize was that what she thought was a forgettable finish to a match that should have been so much more, ending it with a whimper rather than a bang...was something that meant a world of difference to Yuki. And in the end, that was all she needed to jump-start her engines. There was no more running away, she realized, and no more playing around. This meant so much more than she had let it mean. Satsuki wanted a fight. It was time for Yuki to bring it to her. It was time for her to be the Dynamite Schoolgirl again.

In kicking up her leg, Yuki shifted the center of balance over. She brought herself down to land on her feet, while Satsuki dropped to the mat below. The dark-haired girl still had to bend lower, bringing her hands down to catch herself in a three-point landing in order to brace herself against the forward momentum of her swing, but that didn't seem to dampen the glory of her comeback one bit! The crowd broke out into cheers just seeing Yuki taking control back for herself - and hearing the roar of excitement coming down from the stands, she cracked a smile as she turned her head to look up at them. At the last moment, in the face of danger, with all odds stacked against her...Yuki had shown the world it wouldn't matter to her. This, she knew, was the moment she had been waiting for all along. It was the moment the fans were waiting for, too. And it was the moment, perhaps most of all, that Satsuki was waiting for.

Yuki could feel her heart pumping in her chest as she felt the adrenaline running through her veins. Her muscles tensed, ready for action. She was back. And now, it was time to make up for lost time - it was time to make everything count. She wouldn't waste a single second! As Satsuki took off in a charge, the fans were calling out to Yuki, urging her to get out of the way, or to look behind her, to avoid Satsuki's lunge. But Yuki didn't need their cues. She was already on the move!

As though guided by instinct alone, Yuki spun around on her heel to face Satsuki, right as the gambler was about to collide with her. Her hair twirled over her shoulder in an arc, and her skirt fluttered up from around her waist as her leg rose - into a roundhouse kick straight toward Satsuki's head! She hoped that would deflect her opponent as she came near, preventing her from landing her next move. And if that worked, Yuki would complete her revolution to turn back to face Satsuki before she pressed her foot into the mat to stop herself - just before she let out another battle cry, taking a lunging step to close in on Satsuki and swing her hand down for a chop aimed at the crown of her head, thrown with all the momentum of her forward strides!