Lacey Whitman [D] vs. Reiko Masuda

[CaptainL]

When Lacey heard Reiko give her the okay to not hold back, the green-haired girl breathed a short sigh of relief, and a smile flashed across her face. She was relieved to know that everything was going to be fine - that Reiko wasn't upset with her, and that she wouldn't need to have any guilt about what she'd done. She could also see that, despite whatever damage she might have taken, Reiko was still as upbeat as ever - that she wasn't going to let any of this keep her down! That lifed Lacey's spirits, not only showing her she had a kindred spirit in the Young Lioness she could bond all the more with, but also that she wouldn't be held back so easily. She didn't need to feel bad about what she'd done to her. With that in mind, Lacey lowered herself back into a stance and nodded her head. "Well, all right, then-!" She clenched a fist, readying herself to make her move. And not a moment too soon, because Reiko had already charged at her at full speed!

Reiko was closing in fast. Lacey was going to need to act fast if she wanted to take control. But, luckily, she was prepared for that! She lunged in closer, grabbing Reiko around the waist, and diverting all the momentum of her charge into the arc she swung her to the side to bring her down against the canvas with a thump!

As they shook the ring on their impact, the crowd burst into a cheer. Lacey propped herself back up on her hands and knees. That had been a close call, and she needed to catch her breath before she was ready to head back into the fray. So too, she looked down to see how stunned Reiko was - which made her wince for a moment as she realized how sore her back must have been from the Boston crab. Still, Lacey reminded herself that she couldn't dwell on that for long. Reiko could take it - she'd said as much! She still needed to give this her all!

Jumping back up to her feet, Lacey took off running to the ropes. Once again, she would draw on their momentum, hopping on the bottom rope and pressing her body up against the top two to stretch them against her weight, so that they would catapult her back in Reiko's direction - this time, as she attempted to land on her with a senton!

[Kookio]

Despite Reiko’s assurances that she was okay, she was partially lying. Reiko’s back had suffered significant damage from the boston crab, and that damage would rear it’s ugly head back up again when the Young Lioness was slammed down on her back, leaving Reiko in a state of agony while her opponent didn’t skip a best before moving on to the next attack.

She needed to get up! Lacey has had the momentum for far too long, and Reiko was worried that if she couldn’t counter, then her opponent would start wanting to end the fight. She didn’t want that yet. Neither of them even used their finishers yet! Her legs felt like noodles underneath her leaving her unable to get up at the moment.

So she did the best thing she could in the moment. She curled her figure into a ball with her knees raised in the air, attempting to have her opponent’s tailbone land right onto the hardened joints hoping that it would put her opponent in a similar state as she was so she could get some time to recover.

[CaptainL]

Lacey was confident that the match was hers! Her opponent was down, and she had already whittled her down with a series of well-placed, hard-hitting moves. With every blow that landed, the green-haired girl could feel her excitement building more and more, sure that she was closing in on victory. And when she was this close to winning, she found herself overtaken by a wave of energy that gave her the boost she needed to push through the extra mile, carrying her through even greater moves! She looked out with a smile on her face, and her heart was pounding with excitement as she pushed herself off the ropes to throw herself back down at Reiko. If this landed, she would have kept her opponent stunned. Maybe she could hit another high-flying move or two for good measure, just to show off; it was her chance to wow the crowd when they were seeing her for the first time, after all, and she wanted to make it count! But either way, Reiko would be softened up well enough for her to pull her up and hit the Lacey Kick - and the rest was history!

But to her surprise, even after the Boston Crab had nearly taken her out, Reiko still had something left in her after all - something Lacey would find out the hard way! Just as she was about to come crashing down, Reiko kicked up her knees - and the newcomer found that she had just driven herself straight down into a counter, only realizing a moment too late, as her back exploded with pain! At once, the confident smirk on her face was shattered as she cried out in shock, falling onto her side and rubbing at her tailbone as her face contorted in a wince. Reiko wasn't quite done for after all - and right now, she had an opening!

[Kookio]

Thankfully, her surprise counter had worked. Unfortunately, Reiko was no prepared to get up for the first couple seconds. The two would lay there in the ring at a stalemate for a little bit before Reiko would attempt to get back up onto her hands and knees and crawl over to Lacey. She believed that now was her chance to possibly get a pin in on her opponent. If her opponent didn't get up in time, Reiko would attempt to quickly move to the green haired wrestler and try to leap onto her while her arm hooked underneath her opponent's legs and pulling them into the air for a pin! Of course, Reiko had little faith behind this pin because while it would possibly get someone like her, she thought her opponent was much tougher than this and such a counter would hardly do the same amount of damage to someone of Lacey's status as it would her. Still, she was optimistic so she couldn't help but at least give it a try.

It wasn't every day where a young lioness was in a position to pin someone. Especially not someone like Reiko who spent most of her matches getting thrown around like a ragdoll by someone with a lot more experienced than her because that's what her form of training revolved around challenging veteran wrestlers... Only to be thrown about like a ragdoll. The fact that she was even in the position to pin her opponent in the first place had gotten her fans more excited than they have in a long time.

[CaptainL]

The momentum of this match was in a state of constant flux. Every time it seemed one of the combatants was dominating the action, something happened to swing the pendulum back the other way! The whole time, the fans were on the edge of their seats, watching everything that happened with bated breath. To look away for even a moment would be to risk missing a second of the action - and with these two girls competing at the peak of their potential, that second could well have made the difference between victory and defeat! When Reiko was a Young Lioness, it was all the more impressive that she was actually managing to keep up with her more experienced and accomplished foe. When she actually managed to clambor on top of Lacey and hook her legs for the pin, the whole arena burst into cheers! It looked as though Reiko was about to pull off the underdog victory of a lifetime!

"One! Two!"

Lacey was still reeling from the counter, and the pain in her back had yet to fade. Her teeth were clenched in a wince, and she shuddered as Reiko folded her legs over her, stretching her back into an arc. But when she heard the ref counting, she shook herself back to her senses, and her eyes narrowed in determination. She couldn't give up this easily - she still had a chance to fight back, and she was going to take it!

The referee's hand lifted a third time, prepared to bring down the final count. But just before Reiko could be crowned the victor, Lacey kicked out with both legs, going to roll back into a sommersault in order to use her gymnastics training to put some distance between herself and Reiko, buying herself some time to recover. As she picked herself back up, she bent over at the waist, hissing as she rubbed at her back and felt her vertebrae pop and creak - but she wasn't out yet! The determined look on her face as she lifted her head to stare back at Reiko was proof enough!

[Kookio]

Reiko was actually there! She couldn't believe it. She was the one on top of this position for once! She looked at the Referee as they dropped down to the mat. The entire experience felt like the world had slowed down for a few seconds. The sounds between the Referee hitting the floor felt like years. She was using a lot of the strength that she had left to keep the girl's legs in the air, each second the strain of having to do so was becoming painful for Reiko's back.

'One... Two... Thr-' "Gyah!" she yelped as her opponent miraculously kicked out of the pin, knocking Reiko back and forcing the Young Lioness to roll backwards. Similarly to how Lacey hissed in pain, Reiko also hissed in pain as the action of rolling backwards to a squatting position also sent a tight stinging sensation down her weak back.

She looked back at her determined opponent, seeing that fire in her eyes and in her heart. Even after all this time, she still had all that energy. How could she not try to match that energy! Feeling inspired by Lacey's energy, Reiko muscled through the pain coursing through her back, staring back at her opponent with a wide, competitive smile. "I like that spirit! Lets go!" she yelled out at her opponent out of pure excitement while adrenaline flowed through her veins. Her heart was racing as fast as it could go and this Adrenaline allowed her to stand all the way back up and tried to bolt to the nearest turnbuckle. She had only one move idea planned for what to do next at a climax of a fight. A finisher of her own!

if she was allowed to make it to the turnbuckle, she would nearly leap up on top of the turnbuckle, turning around quickly and waited for her opponent to run at her, still breathing heavily from the wounds and injuries she had sustained throughout the match.

[CaptainL]

Reiko had put forth a valiant effort. She had actually managed to keep Lacey's shoulders against the mat, and for a moment, it looked like she was about to overcome the odds, and defeat her more experienced foe! Even some of Lacey's supporters had been swayed to Reiko's side when they saw the determination and commitment she had put forward, and how it had managed to carry her through in spite of the odds. But Lacey wasn't done just yet - and it was just then that she made her return to the fray known, as she kicked her way out of the pin before rolling to safety!

As soon as she had righted herself, Lacey looked back to check on how her opponent was doing. But it was there that she saw that Reiko, for all she had seemingly missed her big chance, wasn't disappointed at all. In fact, she was just as eager and as upbeat as ever to keep the match going, encouraging Lacey to throw herself back into the action! With a grin on her face, the green-haired girl hopped back up onto her feet, and she nodded in agreement. She could tell that Reiko liked putting on a show, and she was practically inviting Lacey to join in on the fun! Lacey was growing to see her as more than an opponent. She was someone who shared her philosophy, and wanted to help her bring it to the forefront. They were practically performing a duet, putting on something better together than one could do on their own, and even if they were both trying to win, they wanted to elevate each other in the process. Lacey could feel her smile growing by the moment the more she thought about it. And she wanted to take that to the next level!

Lacey saw that Reiko had backed into the corner, and she knew she had to be ready. It was her first match in LAW, and her first time meeting Reiko, so she couldn't predict what she was about to do. All she knew was that she'd have to be ready for anything. Hopping back to her feet, she closed in on Reiko, but she kept her eyes trained on her all the while, just in case...

[Kookio]

She had managed to climb onto the ropes, albeit without some little mistakes because of a mixture of her excitement and the pain of pushing her body so much. But she eventually made it to the top of the ring. She slowed down her breathing for a singular moment as focus overcame all of her senses besides her eyes which were locked in on her opponent. It wasn't every day she was able to perform her finishers primarily because she rarely ever made it this far in her matches primarily because she was so used to being beat up. In fact, it was so rare that this was actually the first time she had ever used this finisher in a real match before!

Her eyes were glued on the approaching opponent who was falling right into her little trap. Albeit slower than she had predicted which while it only took Lacey a few moments to close in on Reiko, it felt like hours to the adrenaline filled Reiko. Her heart was racing, and she could feel her leg shaking like a rabbit thumping its leg in excitement. Right as her opponent had gotten close, she would leap off the turnbuckle and attempted to grab her opponent's head while flipping forwards. If she were successful, she would perform her finisher the SUPER SPLASH!.

Spoiler

[CaptainL]

As she moved in closer, her eyes trained on her opponent, Lacey could see the tension in Reiko. She could see how her whole body was tightly coiled, ready to spring at a moment's notice. Reiko, she soon realized, had been waiting on this very moment for some time - the moment, she was sure, where everything would come to a head, and where she would be able to pull off her finisher! Lacey took another step forward, but there she froze, her knees half-bent, looking up at her opponent with a focused, unblinking stare. She too was tense. She was waiting for Reiko to hit the crest of her momentum, and to follow through with what she had started. But that was because Lacey realized what she was trying to do - and when it happened, she wanted to be ready!

Sure enough, Reiko sprung off the top rope, catapulting herself straight toward the green-haired newcomer. But it was at that same moment that Lacey made her move, too! Ducking low to the ground and pushing herself forward, Lacey looked to dart underneath Reiko as she flew through the air, just out of the way of her grabbing hands. As she passed by overhead, rather than letting herself get caught, Lacey would look to use the girl's momentum against her - she would reach up to grab onto Reiko, and fall back to drive her head-first into the mat instead with a DDT!

[Kookio]

It was time! Reiko was finally going to do it! She leaped into the air as high as she possibly could, feeling the air on her face and pushing back her hair while she curled her body up a little and allowed her body to rotate forwards one time where she would reach out to grab her opponent... But her opponent managed to dodge the grab and grab onto her head instead!

Now out of control, Reiko panicked for a split moment as she saw the mat incoming before darkness entirely took over her eyes, her momentum sending her face first into the mat hard enough for the blonde young lioness to bounce off of it back to a standing position and then collapse onto the mat again, unmoving for a while as the crowd went wild, some with cheer while others with a pained "ooo..." and cringing. The entire ring shook a little from the power behind the DDT. It seemed like the chances of Reiko coming back from this were very little. She didn't even cry out in pain from the drop because she was near unconscious and her brain couldn't even process the amount of pain she was in.

The ref would come in to check to see if Reiko was out could and for a moment, it seemed like she was. But right before the Ref called it, Reiko's fist slammed the ground once as consciousness barely returned to Reiko. She was dazed out of her mind, but still barely had any fight left in her. The crowd would start chanting her name as would attempt to very slowly but surely push herself off of the floor, but would also be unable to stop Lacey from pulling any other moves to put her back down.