The Idol’s Challenge - Amika vs ??

[The_Queen]

Bandita's cry told Amika immediately that she'd found something that worked. After being controlled for most of the start of this match, hearing the referee asking *Bandita* about submitting only added fuel to Amika's submission hold.

When Bandita tried pulling her trapped arm forward, Amika reacted by tightening her grip around the wrist and drawing it farther back. She shifted her hips higher against Bandita's side and squeezed her hooked leg more securely around the luchadora's thigh, making it harder for Bandita to straighten herself or find stable footing.

"Nngh... stay... still!"

Of course, Amika knew perfectly well Bandita wasn't going to cooperate, but that just means she needs to turn up the heat!

Instead of simply holding the position, Amika began gradually leaning farther away from Bandita. Her body stretched nearly horizontal across the luchadora's back, using her own weight as additional leverage while she continued pulling the captured arm backward. The adjustment forcing her opponent body into an even deeper sideways bend, placing more strain through her shoulder and torso.

The audience's reaction immediately grew louder, and Amika could feel some of that old performer instinct returning with it. She lifted her head, messy brown-and-pink hair hanging around her face now that her bow was gone, and flashed the crowd a determined smile even as her own muscles trembled from maintaining the complicated position.

Then she gave the hold one more sharp wrench.

"HAAH!"

Amika pulled Bandita's arm back while simultaneously extending her hooked leg and arching herself farther across the luchadora, trying to squeeze every bit of leverage she could out of the octopus stretch. She wasn't strong enough to simply overpower Bandita, but that wasn't what this hold required.

[CyanDimitrik]

The feel of her arm wrenching back further and Amika's body coiling around hers wrenched a fresh cry of pain from the girl. "AAaahhn!" Her resistance ended abruptly in a subconscious plea to stop Amika from adding more strain, leaving the Latina to simply endure. Her head drops again, mouth now hung open, eyes screwing shut once more to try to focus through the pain. Each breath she draws is a hard pant, not from exhaustion so much as stress and pain - a technique to try to work through the anguish.

"Haah..! Haah..! Haah..!"

"Do you submit!?"

The referee is persistent. But Bandita shakes her head sharply, swallows hard, and gives a quieter, more pitiful, "No..!"

But Amika isn't content to let this become a game of endurance. She forces Bandita's body to twist into a tighter angle, and the arm is wrenched back harder. "AaaAAAAAGHH!," Bandita crescendos in scream. Her arm feels like it's on fire, and her upper-body is contorted in a way that no amount of flexibility could account for!

"Tap out if you need to! Do you submit!?"

There's no clear answer this time vocally. Amidst another pained scream, Bandita shakes her head fervently. Her mind is blaring warnings that staying in the hold might risk an injury, something might come out of socket, or she might even pass out if she's stuck enduring it! And that panic fashions into a dogged determination to persevere. The weight of Amika's body against her back is an oppressive force now, threatening to buckle her legs out from under her. But Bandita swings her free leg forward to take the first halting step across the mat. Then, struggling against the coil of Amika's slender leg twining with it, the other leg shifts forward, somewhat dragging against the mat.

"Nnghh..! Aagh..!"

[The_Queen]

Amika could feel Bandita's resistance beginning to change. The luchadora wasn't pulling against her arm anymore, nor was she trying to twist herself free. For a brief moment, Amika thought that might mean the submission was finally becoming too much for her opponent. The referee certainly seemed to think so, repeatedly asking Bandita whether she wanted to give up as Amika maintained the pressure.

Then Bandita's foot moved, shifting both of their bodies Amika. One halting step carried both women slightly across the canvas, and Amika's eyes widened as she realized what Bandita was doing. 

"Oh no you don't...!"

Amika tightened everything at once. Her leg squeezed harder around Bandita's thigh while she pulled back on the captured arm, trying to compromise the luchadora's balance before she could take another step. Maintaining the hold was becoming increasingly difficult, though. Amika had designed the position around making Bandita support her weight, but that meant she had very little control over where her opponent could carry them if she remained standing.

Bandita dragged her trapped leg forward anyway.

Amika's boots weren't touching the canvas enough to simply stop her. Instead, she shifted her weight backward and downward, trying to make herself as difficult to carry as possible. Her arms tightened around Bandita's wrist and head while her hooked leg pulled in the opposite direction, attempting to turn every step into a battle.

"Nngh...! Come on...!"

Another movement from Bandita forced Amika to adjust again. The idol's earlier confidence was replaced by concentration as she glanced toward the ropes and tried to judge the remaining distance. She could release the hold and attempt to drag Bandita back toward the center, but doing that would surrender the best position she'd managed to earn all match. After spending so long underneath Bandita's offense, Amika wasn't willing to give it away voluntarily.

So she doubled down.

Amika pulled Bandita's captured arm closer against herself and leaned farther back, using as much of her body weight as possible to anchor the luchadora in place. Her free leg shifted higher around Bandita's thigh, trying to interfere with the next step before it could even begin. The effort was beginning to show on Amika as well, her arms trembling slightly from maintaining the complicated hold while Bandita stubbornly carried both of their weight toward safety.

"You're... not getting away that easily!"

But Bandita kept dragging them.

Amika's eyes darted toward the ropes once more before immediately returning to her opponent. She could feel Bandita fighting for every inch beneath her, and with Amika wrapped around her rather than planted firmly on the canvas, there was only so much she could do to stop the stronger woman from moving. Still, Amika refused to loosen the octopus stretch. She pulled backward with everything she had, leg cinched tightly around Bandita's own as she desperately tried to halt the luchadora's slow march toward the ropes.

[CyanDimitrik]

Every step was an act of defiance and determination, every inch gained another small amount of territory earned in this battle of heated attrition. At this point, every breath Bandita exhales is laced with a thin vocalization, an outward express of the misery inflicted upon her. Her expression is written in pain and anguish, a struggle just to force one eye open to continue to keep her bearing. It's disorienting to have an entire body attached to you, wrenching you in opposite directions. That would be bad enough, if it weren't for the pain included.

"Gyaaahh!" Bandita has to pause to scream, her voice going weak and breathy. "E-easy!?," she fires back. The word is as sputtered as it is incredulous. There was nothing easy about this. All in a single moment, Amika had completely upset the concept that Bandita would be 'bullying' anyone tonight. Bullies don't suffer like this, do they!? It'd be inspiring if it wasn't hurting her!

Another rough step forward, another drag of the tangled leg. By this point, something in the arena has shifted. The audience is roaring in a mix - no booing or scorn to be heard amongst the voices, but all cheer. Either cheer for Amika bringing her more experienced and ostensibly stronger opponent down in submission, or for Bandita to power through and force her way to freedom. Both sides are urging the grapplers to hang on. And the arena is alive with the hammering of unified, rhythmic stomps.

The referee is never a step behind, hovering close to Bandita's face to watch for signs of surrender. "Bandita-san! Do! You! Submit!"

Bandita pauses again, feeling Amika pull tighter. The strain elicits another gasp, the teenager noticeably trembling under the pressure. Amika would surely feel it - her opponent's body buckling, struggling to stay in. It would be so much relief to swallow her pride and accept defeat; it would only take a nod of her head, a flap of her free(-er) arm to pat against whatever part of Amika's body she could most conveniently reach in this hold.

"Ahn..!" The referee leans in closer. The stretch tightens. Bandita's knee shudders. "Aahahahoww, NO!"

She shakes her head again firmly and throws the leg forward again to take another step. The drag is slower this time, painstaking.

Then it happens. Her free knee gives out beneath her. With eyes starting to water from the pain, Bandita can see the ropes just ahead of her. She struggles to reach towards it, fighting against the leverage Amika has over her body, her breathing both rapid and ragged. It's just out of reach! Her foot shifts against the mat, the muscles of her leg tight.

"YAAAHH!"

A final thrust. A kick against the mat to propel her body forward into collapse. But her hand flies forth wildly, desperately grabbing for the bottom rope before finding herself fully contorted facedown beneath Amika's entangling figure.

[The_Queen]

Amika could feel every tremble running through Bandita beneath her. The luchadora's movements had slowed dramatically, each step toward the ropes becoming more difficult than the last, and for the first time Amika genuinely wondered whether she might submit before reaching them. She tightened her grip again, pulling Bandita's captured arm backward while keeping her leg tangled securely around the luchadora's thigh.

"Come on...!"

Bandita's knee suddenly buckled.

Amika felt both of them drop lower, and her eyes immediately snapped toward the referee. For a fleeting second she thought that was it—that Bandita's legs had finally given out beneath the pressure. Instead, the luchadora made one final desperate push across the canvas.

Bandita's hand shot forward and caught the bottom rope.

"ROPE BREAK! Release the hold!” The ref yelled.

Amika's expression immediately fell. "Ah man—!"

For all her determination to keep Bandita trapped, there was no hesitation once the referee gave the order. Amika released the captured arm and untangled her legs, dropping beside Bandita as the complicated submission finally came apart. She rolled onto one knee and took a few heavy breaths, flexing her fingers after maintaining the grip for so long.

She'd was so close. Really close!

Still, disappointment quickly gave way to focus. Amika had spent the opening stretch of the match learning firsthand what happened when she gave Bandita even a few seconds to recover. She wasn't making that mistake now.

Amika pushed herself back to her feet and stepped toward Bandita, who remained close to the ropes after her escape. Rather than back away and allow a clean reset, Amika reached down for her opponent. One hand went toward Bandita's wrist while the other reached for her upper arm, intending to pull the luchadora away from the ropes and back toward the center of the ring.

"Nngh... come on!"

Amika planted her feet and began tugging, trying to draw Bandita up and away from the safety of the ropes. The octopus stretch had clearly taken something out of her opponent, and Amika was already thinking about how she could turn that damage into her next attack. For now, though, she was focused entirely on getting Bandita away from those ropes.

[CyanDimitrik]

Bandita lies on her chest, suffering with one hand desperately clinging to the bottom rope. And though it only takes a few seconds for the referee to make the call and for Amika to release the hold, it feels like an eternity. Her head feels hot, her heart feels like it's in her throat, and her eyes feel sticky from the risk of tearing up in pain. But now that it's over, it's all she can do to just keep holding onto that rope.

Her other arm feels inert and useless while the burning pain through the joints and muscles try to relax again. That same burn continues to flare along her waist. It makes her want to do nothing but just recuperate, hoping that staying connected to the rope will dissuade Amika from continuing her aggression.

As it turns out, it doesn't!

Bandita's wrist and upper-arm is taken, disconnecting her from the rope. Amika will find precious little resistance in Bandita as she begins to draw her away from the sanctuary of the borders, stumbling on her knees weakly, the hurting arm refusing to provide much support yet. Her head lifts, looking up at Amika with dread; the awareness that she's effectively helpless yet isn't lost on her.

"Agh- w-wait..!"

Drawn to the center of the ring, Bandita ends on her knees. One arm remains Amika's captive, the other hanging limply at her side. The Latina is leaned forward, heavily resting against the Japanese girl. Her shoulder rests against her thigh, her sweating cheek resting against the space between her hip and waist. Her weak arm raises at last to wrap around the girl's waist, but with no evident force yet.

"We're not done yet...," she murmurs to her, even though she's staring at the mat behind her. "Just... need a sec..."

Her head tilts back to look up towards Amika's face again, hazel-green eyes narrowing with a wry smile despite the pain. "You're.. full'a surprises, huh..?" She takes a breath before exhaling in a snicker.

One leg scoots against the mat, bringing a boot beneath herself to shift into a kneeling position.