Mikazuki Hayase vs Blair Dame - Run, Rabbit, Run!

[Null Spell]

The landing still painfully jostled his body, but it could've been worse. Especially if he'd done something dumber and went for something more dangerous. Blair being there to soften the fall helped too. He took her shove to mean that she didn't appreciate the smile he shot her. Or she wasn't a fan of him sitting atop her. He felt the same about the ref starting to count them out so soon.

To be fair, neither of them looked to be recovering quickly. It wouldn't matter as long as he was able to get up first. He knew his advantage there would be slim, so he wasted no time inching his way towards her. Tangling his hand in her hair, he'd try to use it as leverage to lift her head as he rose. If she didn't resist, Mikazuki would smash his kneepad into the side of her face, yanking her head into it to make up for the strength he couldn't muster. Again and again, until he'd be sure that she'd be as dazed as he was.

With the ref's count out slowly progressing, he wouldn't stay out of the ring much longer afterward. He didn't plan on beating Blair in such an unsatisfying way, and Mikazuki was sure a formidable opponent like her wouldn't go out like that. If he could keep her down long enough and force her to rush back into the ring, Mikazuki planned to take advantage of any opening her haste could create.

[BlackAkuma]

Be calm. Collected. Blair had been here before.

Not specifically here, mind you, but this was hardly the first time in her career she’d been laid out in such a fashion, though it had not happened in a long while. Even so, she knew the way to handle such a situation, even as she laid back and nursed her chest, even as the pain coursed through her body and threatened to fog her mind. She just needed a few seconds.

Seconds that Mikuzaki seemed determined not to let her have. She blinked into awareness, as her hair was yanked and her upper body followed along with it, but was greeted with a knee to the face before she could properly protest. One, two, three, rattling her in the skull, leaving her dazed on her knees, dazed for the moment.

Blair expected more to come, but Mikuzaki broke off and returned to the ring before another shot could land, leaving her to deal with the pain out on the floor. Not all that surprising, perhaps, with the referee’s count rising.

”7!”

It wasn’t ideal - she was too groggy to make her way in fast, and she would undoubtedly leave herself open in the attempt. But she had little choice - with her hand on the apron for support, Blair pulled her way back into the ring under the bottom rope.

[Null Spell]

The knee strikes were sloppy as they connected against Blair's head. While already relying on her kneeling form to keep himself upright, he couldn't put much energy into them. Mikazuki stumbled back away from her after the third knee, against the ring until he'd steadied himself to pull himself up and step through the ropes. He stayed close to them, at least until Blair roused from her stupor, in case he needed to step back out and reset the count.

Mikazuki arched his back, the stretch only worsening how sore it was. Moving hurt, but a bit of back pain was better than her targeting his legs or him taking another hit to the head. In either of those cases, he wouldn't be able to seize the opportunity ahead of him.

He'd pounce on her right as she slipped under the ropes while she was yet to get up, vulnerable. Mikazuki raised his leg high up towards his head, a moment from bringing his boot down and bashing her head right back down into the canvas if she lifted her head.

It didn't feel right. Not at all.

The only thing rarer than a plan of his panning out was him hesitating. Going through with it meant going against the one thing Mikazuki knew he had to pull off when he saw Blair. The sound of the audience as they awaited the potentially match ending blow fluctuated when it never came. Confusion Mikazuki imagined. For him after a second thought, he couldn't be more certain of what he planned on doing. He hopped back quickly, out of her range to give her space.

Mikazuki backed towards the center of the ring as he waited for her to stand. And he truly wished she would. More than that, he hoped she'd accept the challenge he'd propose. “I wanna go for your head when you're ready. Don't let me!”

The eagerness in his voice was palpable. There wouldn't be a better time to test himself against her, his speed against her power. It sounded like the most fun way to secure a knockout, so there really wasn't any other option.

The last time he ran at her didn't go so well. At all. Still, after knocking her head around so much, he was confident he could slip in close to land one last hit. Before she could react properly and make use of her range advantage. Mikazuki stretched his legs out to the side in preparation as he awaited her response.

[BlackAkuma]

Blair had a fairly good idea on what was about to happen, but knowing something was going to occur and being able to stop it were, sadly, two very different things. It was just one of those annoying things that came with wrestling. Could she get back into the ring of her own accord? Yes, easily. She wasn’t so battered that she couldn't make that journey. Could she do so quickly in a way that didn’t leave her vulnerable? Not that she could see. Perhaps he would give her some opening, something she could reverse if she were quick enough, but there was no way to know until she was back in.

Sure enough, he waited for her when she came in under the ropes, raised his foot, and prepared to bring it down on her waiting her. She tensed up, prepared for the blow, and…

Nothing.

The lack of a stomp stunned her nearly as much as the actual attack would’ve. She blinked, confused, and looked up to see him moving away from her instead, getting a puzzled murmur from the crowd as he went. She looked on with a cocked eyebrow as he moved away and gave her all the time and room she could’ve asked for.

Pity? She doubted it. Some sense of sportsmanship, perhaps. Or maybe he just thought it would be more fun this way. Whatever the case, she decided not to dwell on it overly much for now. Instead, she rose back to her feet with her fists at the ready and heels bouncing, regaining some measure of her composure. She tapped her fists together and moved in once more, closing the distance with cautious steps, only lashing out with a quick snap kick towards his chest when she was close enough.

A fast, swift strike, but lacking in power. She needed to feel this out.

[Null Spell]

Despite her silence, Blair was the first to move. It had him bouncing on his heels as well. Things wouldn't be as fun if she was on the defensive. At her full imposing height, it was clear she still had more fight in her. Far more than Mikazuki was used to with his opponents. Or maybe he hadn't been hitting her hard enough.

He charged right as she took her first step forward. The distance wasn't enough to pick up the speed he wanted, or enough time to react to her raised leg. The latter was expected. He wanted to knock her out with one kick while she was standing. To beat his test to himself he'd need to put himself in harm's way, and he needed to be able to take anything she threw his way.

And he did, better than he anticipated, considering he'd all but ran into her boot. The kick would've knocked him back if he hadn't taken hold of her extended leg to better deal with the hit. He'd already taken a knee from her, one that'd left his arms still tender from blocking. The kick didn't quite match that.

Breath hitching, his upper body still recoiled back from the blow. Stopped him in his tracks until the immediate feeling of the impact dulled. A second's worth of delay. He didn't have the power over her to keep her leg in place for long, so he let go and readied a response for her attack. “Harder.”

Potential phrasing issues aside, Mikazuki was serious about his demand. It was almost insulting that she hadn't completely floored him! Mikazuki would give her an example of what he was looking for. He pivoted on his foot as he wound up for a spin kick, attempting to ram his heel into her ribs.

Mikazuki didn't have all that much steam left in him, so if the blow alone was enough to make her reel, he'd follow it up with a high kick aimed for her chin to try and put her down.

[BlackAkuma]

Harder.

That single word was echoing through Blair’s mind. Despite how she carried herself and her demeanor, one word she didn't want to be applied to her was ‘soft.’ She had worked too hard, fought too hard, to even bear such a moniker. Perhaps she had not been at her best in this match, had let her emotions and feelings get the better of her, and that was something she would rectify in a moment. She would show him this ‘harder’ he requested.

Her first attempt failed, though only by a thin margin, as Mikazuki narrowly moved out of the way and beckoned her on with that accursed word. He seemed to be craving her boot against face again - a masochist, perhaps? Or it could’ve simply been competitiveness. Whatever the case, it was enough to drive her on, and she moved in with the intent to follow up.

On the way, however, she was greeted with a spinning kick to her midsection, cracking her clean on the abs and driving out a gust of wind. It wasn’t enough to bring her down, but the high kick coming to face might have finished the job.

If it hit. It did not. Instead, Blair brought her arm up and caught it at the last second, trapping his ankle under her shoulder and leaving him to bounce on one foot while she looked down on him, her eyes wide and feral, a lioness with her prey.

Blair turned in towards him, brought her spare arm up, and drove her elbow into his raised thigh, targeting the tender spot where leg met hip. She followed up by ramming that same elbow into his face, and only then did she let him go and allow him to topple. ”Hard enough?”

[Null Spell]

Mikazuki stumbled and unceremoniously fell on his ass. Covering his face with a hand, tasting a tinge of blood from where the inside of his lip caught against his teeth. He half-expected her to not play along and go for another throw, especially after she caught his leg again. The elbow was a good sign though! Her words too. They weren't a taunt. At least, he didn't take them that way. She had to have been humoring him.

“Wasn't that more satisfying?!” A bit of giggling preceded the question. Mikazuki was jealous. Honestly. Being built like a brick wall must've been fun. What strength, it felt like his thigh was cramping up just from one hit! He picked himself up and took a few shaky steps back. “The frail comment was wrong. I can take more though.”

Blair had functioning eyes, so it'd be evident that the statement was false by how he swayed when he stood. His head had been spinning since he was kicked out of the ring. Being realistic for a moment, she could probably just lay on him to keep him down for the count. Not the worst way to go out considering who his opponent was. Her next move would undoubtedly be less pleasant if he didn't make use of what energy he had left.

Mikazuki rushed at her again, only a few steps on his recovering leg. He sank down to slide on his knees, past her side so he could bring a leg up and kick the back of her knee to try and make her leg buckle.

Whether she staggered or not, he'd run for the ropes behind her to bounce off and get the speed for something that'd surprise her. Mikazuki's feet would leave the ground once he was close enough to her again. Throwing himself back as if to perform a flip backward, he'd keep a leg extended in an attempt to smash his boot into the underside of her chin.

[BlackAkuma]

A strategy was starting to form in Blair’s mind: a painful one, but a strategy all the same. This match had made clear that, while she wasn’t slow, she wasn’t anywhere near Mikuzaki’s level, that she would fail repeatedly if she tried to catch him traditionally. He would counter her, escape and wear her down - even now, she felt the fatigue setting in.

She needed a hit. One solid hit to end this, nothing more or less. The only question was when and how?

It heartened her, somewhat, to see that she wasn’t the only one walking on weak legs, that the turmoil of the match was also taking its toll on him. He was stumbling, weak in the knees, clearly aching from the hurt she had just put on him, but fair play - he didn’t show it on his face, not for a moment. He came rushing at her again, putting on a brave face to meet her, and she stepped forward to meet him.

That oncoming rush proved to be a feint - he ducked low, came to her side, and clipped her in the leg with another kick, making her stagger. She figured he would be following up soon, and she turned around to find that was case, as he came flying through the air with a wild kick, one that had him flipping in an arc.

An impressive display, no doubt, and she wasn’t fast enough to block it, but that didn’t mean she would take it unanswered. As it flew her way, she brought her leg low and shot it straight out, aiming her knee at his midsection, trying to knock him out of midair. At the same time, though, there was no stopping the kick to her face, and she took it hard, landing with a deafening clap. She wound up staggering all the way back to the ropes, and might have fallen flat if they hadn't been there to support her.