Feels Like The First Time: Skullomania II vs Karolina 'Ray' Reinhardt

[BlackAkuma]

Steady. Wait for it. Careful.

Kenji stayed on his toes as he circled about the ring, knowing that Karolina could and would strike at well, at any given second. The audience was growing restless, demanding he take the initiative, and he found the strong urge to give in and give them what they wanted. That would’ve been the brave thing, but it was also guaranteed to get him flattened, and he’d had more than enough of that in this match already, no thank you.

His patience was rewarded, as she made the first move and came at him with a chop. A hell of a move that would’ve knocked him off his feet, fast enough to catch him…if he hadn't been on his guard. With his alarms raised, he was just able to duck under it and run around behind her, making his way to her blindside for a precious moment.

Not wanting to waste his opportunity, Kenji leaped onto Karolina’s back, wrapped his arms around her thick neck, and tried to clamp down with a sleeperhold, hoping that he could take some of the fight out of her by robbing her breath.

[Monsy]

It’s easy to control the match in motion. Tides toss and twist, and she who controls the current rocks the ship and makes the crew react. She’s more than willing to strike first, throwing her arm with a whip of the wind to course ears like a steady coo. Though aged, she found herself glancing as the man disappeared behind her lead shoulder, and suddenly, a weight piled on, substantial enough to make her lean but not topple. She looked forward, glaring, stolen for breath but the crowd could not see a dent in her otherwise flawless armour. Nay, even with her throat pinched, she still gave the front row a sense of unease.

“Very… Good…” Karolina grouched through. Then she went back, further and picking up pace, hoping to squash this man into the turnbuckle pads.

[BlackAkuma]

…did Kenji have a plan in all of this?

Not really, unless you called ‘not getting hit’ a plan. That was really the thought process behind just about everything he was doing now, trying to survive long enough against Karoline to actually get something done. This wasn’t the worst way to achieve that, either. After all, she couldn't hit him back here, and he could hurt her at the same. No matter how strong she was, she still needed to breathe air. This could work.

Kenji thought that, too, until Karoline went and sandwiched him into the corner.

The blow knocked the wind clean out of him, robbed him of what little power he had. It didn’t make him let go of the hold, but he was just hanging on for dear life, not squeezing. He might as well have been a cape, at this point.

[Monsy]

It’s like having a climbing rat nag on her coattail. Nothing short of annoying after running him into the corner. She reached up, grabbed one of his arms and tried unravelling it to pull it down her front. If that worked, well, it was just a matter of leaning forward, yanking on that arm like a rope and sending Skullomania tumbling over-shoulder to the canvas. A hand cupped her own throat, being so rudely touched by unskilled hands, straightened her posture and gave a downward glance. She took her leg and swung it to his back, hoping to crack her limb off his spine and the surrounding muscle.

[BlackAkuma]

Kenji knew that was going to go poorly. He had no way of knowing it was going to go this poorly.

With his body aching and limbs limp, he was all too easy prey for Karolina, who had no trouble throwing him over and bringing him down for a rough landing on the canvas. He hit with enough force to bounce up after the impact, and that would’ve been more than painful enough on its lonesome, but then his foe had to go and compound the problem.

He had only started to rise when she hit his back with a hard, clubbing blow, cracking him straight on the spine and making him cry out, aching as the shock went through his bone. He fell forward and grabbed his back, hissing as he crawled towards the corner. He feebly tried to get up to his feet, using the pads for support, hoping that it might help if he was at least standing for the onslaught coming his way.

[Monsy]

Things were moving again. Good. Great. Better yet, as per usual, she was the one controlling the pace and had the initiative. Once he took off, crawling, arching and crying, Karolina took her time walking around towards the opposing corner, fixing her sleeves, rolling her shoulders and brushing her grabbed neck. She eventually consoled any damage -- rather nonexistent than a spook. And once he began to stand, well, she took it upon herself to see that as her cue. She came running. Bolting. A hurried rush from someone her size, rapidly closing in where she pointed the shoulder and aimed to utterly squash Skullomania to the corner silly with a good ol’ fashioned shoulder check.

[BlackAkuma]

Kenji wanted to do the right thing, here. He wanted to be the hero. Wanted to see this match through. That was the way heroes operated, after all - when the going got tough, they buckled down and stood against the pressure, held fast where others would have failed and faltered. This was the dream, this was where he had wanted to be as a wrestler, and he knew that, one day, it would be worth all the suffering.

But damn,was thought of quitting looking more and more appealing by the second. In his defense, he was up a living bulldozer in the form of Karolina, clearly outclassed, and he was running out of options, if he’d ever truly had any in the first. He wasn’t fighting for a championship, or even a title shot. Some would argue that the smart thing to do would be to chalk it up as a loss.

Kenji was pondering just that when he was interrupted by an oncoming freight train, as Karolina came bolting hard towards him. He threw himself to the side out of pure reflex, trying to avoid her rush and giving her nothing but turnbuckle to crash into.

[Monsy]

For someone on the twilight side of her forties, Karolina could run like someone in her thirties. Athleticism and physique were top priorities right behind business. Well-being in all dimensions strictly maintained for public appearances, and competition. But that didn’t stop someone of smaller size from being clever. Or desperate.

A little shift to the side is all it took and Karolina’s shoulder was jacked into the top turnbuckle. Her arm was squished against her ribs and curved down into her smaller waist. She twitched an eye. Her footing became unsteady until she turned, caught her rebound on her sole and stopped. That arm stayed folded up where the fist was near her collar and stung with bone-pinching. Her shoulder joint nibbled and it was the kind of hurt that didn’t bother until the arm moved, and returning to normal was a matter of seconds. But until then, Karolina turned around, not amused by this cornered animal’s hurrah, and scanned the ring to find him. There was still: nowhere to hide.

[BlackAkuma]

The crowd gave Kenshi a quick cheer as he managed to evade Karolina, but he couldn't say that he felt any surge of confidence from it. Yes, he’d managed to avoid utter destruction, but he was still stuck in a ring with a wrecking machine of a woman. It didn’t matter how many turnbuckles he made her run into, he wasn’t going to even the odds that way.

Nor was he going to do it by avoiding her. So, as loath as he was to take her head on, he had to try at least.

He ran towards the center of the ring and turned around, building up steam as he went. When Karolina turned around, he was already running towards her as fast as he could, moving in with hurried, frenetic steps. He waited until he was close enough, then leaped up and swung out, trying to hit with a forearm to the chest, hoping to ram her against the turnbuckle.

[Monsy]

Of course they did.
They rather praise the hiccup in talent than the success that came before. It's always the downfall. No matter how small. And Karolina had sour eyes for it and offered a mere glance before she was ripe to return the gesture. But. This little man seemed to have some unexpected bite to him yet. A total rush, straight-shot sprint at her. Perhaps a few years younger, and this may have been nothing. Or perhaps. He had a spark of something yet.

A clean shot right from the forearm. All that weight on her upper half, unprepared in the knees, and her broader base didn’t make the pressure absorbable. “Khh-” And the moment she ate it across her chest, she arched back with her shoulder blades to hit the top turnbuckle and forced a silent gasp. Her head snapped back and whiplashed til it pinched. Her stance collapsed into a sitting one. One hand went to her nape, and the other hooked across the middle rope. She looked up, furious, with an eye beginning to squeeze itself, and clenched teeth that released a hiss, like steam coming out of a machine. But, for what it's worth, she was stunned for the first few moments of this match.