Hayleigh Hisashi vs. Yuki Kazikura

[DizzyKnight]

As Yuki laid herself flat across Hayleigh's shoulders, the referee began the rather slow process of getting down on her knees and looking to check that both shoulders were pressed down, despite Hayleigh being quite obviously in no position to raise them right now. It would take the large lady a fair bit longer than 3 seconds to even start counting, while the silver-haired newbie panted and lightly shook below Yuki's pin.

By the time the 'One!' count came, Yuki had been holding Hayleigh down for a good four seconds, and the high-flyer began to stir. Just before the 'Two!' count, she began trying to push upwards and clean lift Yuki off of herself, but didn't have the strength to actually heave Yuki up from this position. After the second count, she came somewhat back to her senses, starting to twist and kick more and more violently, until she just barely managed to slip under and free of her opponent, an instant before the ref could hit the three count.

Quickly twisting over onto her knees, Hayleigh instinctively went to try and get atop her opponent, strength difference be damned. If Yuki hadn't made an attempt to get away, Hayleigh would dive on top of her, trying to get her arms around the back of the young teen's head to seemingly hug her in order to keep the girl in place, while trying to shift her lower body around to straddle the rookie's slender waist.

[CaptainL]

She lay down across Hayleigh's shoulders, holding the girl against the ground...and once again, nothing happened. Yuki started to look up at the ref, between the larger woman and her pinned opponent, with building tension. Why was she not paying attention? This was her job, wasn't it? The whole thing frustrated Yuki, who was doing her best and fighting with all her strength at always, and yet that still wasn't apparently enough to get the attention of the officials who were supposed to be watching this. She bit the corner of her lip as her brow narrowed, glaring out with daggers in her eyes. It may have only been four seconds, but to Yuki it felt much longer.

Still, the count resumed, after too long a pause, but at least it was happening. As it came closer and closer to the third count, Yuki started to lean closer, bracing herself with anticipation. Maybe she'd get out of this anyway in the end...

But no, that was denied. At the very last minute, Hayleigh worked up the courage to slip out from under Yuki, sending the girl falling forward and briefly catching herself on her hands in order to stabilize herself. She groaned under her breath, the last few seconds clearly still on her mind. She was robbed! If the ref had only been paying attention, she could've won! That was going to be a sore spot for her.

Nonetheless, she couldn't ponder things for too long when a match was going on. Yuki tried to roll out of the way before Hayleigh decided to capitalize, but the silver-haired woman was too quick, grabbing onto her head and wrenching back. "Guh-!" she called out, feeling Hayleigh's weight press down against hers as she maneuvered herself into a closer position on her back. Though she couldn't see much of where Hayleigh was from this position, Yuki was still determined to do something, and she went to throw an elbow behind her.

[DizzyKnight]

Hayleigh leaned forwards to put her head almost on Yuki's shoulder as the two wrestled on the canvas, the older newbie having a clear advantage over her younger counterpart as she had the girl held tightly from behind, even if she wasn't dealing any damage nor inflicting any pain on her opponent. By now, the duo were beginning to pant and sweat, their smaller figures struggling to keep up with the physically demanding activity they found themselves in, even if the match had only been going a few minutes.

Just as she finished repositioning herself, an elbow found it's way rather painfully into Hayleigh's defenseless side, producing a loud "Ghaank!" sound as the pain shot through her body. Hayleigh would squeeze herself tighter against Yuki to try and avoid any further attacks of that nature, and then shift back onto her knees while holding onto Yuki, aiming to pull her up into a similar position. If Yuki didn't offer any serious resistance, she'd try her best to get an arm around the girl's throat, while simultaneously trying to catch her right wrist and hold it out at their side to render it useless.

If, by luck more than skill, it all went to plan, she'd then fall back onto her backside to lie Yuki on top of her and lock her sleeper in tight! Between her panting, she'd manage to compliment, "You are frustratingly good, we should do this again sometime."

[CaptainL]

Hayleigh may not have been directly trying to inflict pain, but it didn't matter all the same to Yuki - she knew what Hayleigh was capable of, and she would prefer not to be in too much trouble with her if she could avoid it. She knew that letting Hayleigh get her arms around her could only lead to more trouble, and she was willing to fight defensively to make sure that wouldn't happen.

Though she was able to land her elbow strike against her grey-haired opponent's ribcage, Yuki couldn't make her release her, and as a matter of fact, Hayleigh only clamped down harder still. Yuki gagged, starting to go tense as she found herself rise up on her knees, as Hayleigh dragged her backwards, then snared her neck in the crook of her arm to draw a choked gasp from her lungs. Though she tried to twist and turn, nothing Yuki could do did a very good job of freeing her - and soon she was wracked by a sudden jolt, as Hayleigh fell backwards to fall into a sitting position, pulling Yuki closer against her chest. The black-haired rookie gagged as she felt Hayleigh's arm dig deeper into her neck. She was happy to know that Hayleigh was impressed with her skills, of course - but right now, she couldn't get a word in in response, with her airways blocked. She would have to do the next best thing she could, and she raised her hands to try and grab Halyleigh's arm to pull down on it, desperately trying to free herself from the sleeperhold.

[DizzyKnight]

At first, Yuki's attempts at breaking free of the sleeper wouldn't do all that much. It was something of a rookie mistake to try and simply pull straight down on the most easily available arm. But then, Hayleigh had (quite surprisingly, for someone with as much experience as herself) committed a similarly simple mistake in using her forearm to squeeze Yuki's throat inwards rather than elbow. After a few moments of prying and struggling, Yuki would succeed in pushing Hayleigh's arm off just enough to breathe, and just enough to drop to the side through the opening Hisashi had unknowingly left!

Though her opponent was now free of the submission hold, she was still down on the canvas with a more experienced grappler kneeling over her. She'd have a moment's advantage as Hayleigh re-balanced herself, but soon enough the silver-haired lightweight would be back again, trying to press her figure down on top of Yuki to keep her against the canvas and make it hard for her to move. With their faces awkwardly close, panting, sweating, and grunting as they squirmed, the referee was mysteriously paying very close attention now.

It seemed that, at least for the moment, Hayleigh was simply trying to keep Yuki from attacking, rather than making a move of her own, perhaps trying to catch her breath.

[CaptainL]

Yuki might have had plenty of matches in her past, and her career had been going successfully in the past two years, with her achieving new and greater heights. But she was still young, and she still had plenty to learn - so when she felt Hayleigh's arm squeezing against her throat, her first instinct was to try and pull herself free. All the same, Hayleigh herself wasn't perfect in her form, so the raven-haired girl was able to break the hold well enough to breathe. She took in a deep breath to refill her lungs, then ducked down to escape through the opening, rolling back out onto her hands and knees.

All the same, the fight had gone to the mat, which wasn't exactly where Yuki was at her best. She preferred to be on her feet or in the air, where she could use her mobility to her advantage and fire off quick but powerful shots, but when she was taken to the canvas, she was all too vulnerable to debilitating holds. Sure enough, Hayleigh fell on top of her, and the silver-haired rookie did her best to hang onto her opponent. Yuki remained firm, bracing herself against the ground as the two fought, Hayleigh to remain on and Yuki to shake her off her back. Her hips twisted from side to side and she bucked upwards to try and shake her grasp, their bodies pressed in tightly and grinding close, every movement causing skin and fabric to rub against its like. She was feeling Hayleigh a good deal more closely than she'd anticipated for a first meeting - but Yuki's face was red with fighting spirit as much as with embarrassment, as she took in a breath and bit her lip to try and stave of distraction. There was only one thing she could think to do; it'd be a risky maneuver, but she was willing to try it. Letting out a yell, she threw herself over to the side, trying to roll her weight over to reverse their positions and drive Hayleigh against the mat.

[DizzyKnight]

Hayleigh, rather naively, hadn't been expecting Yuki to so obviously attempt to reverse the position. It was easily the most obvious thing that might happen, and something that Hayleigh had learned to counter years prior, but she somehow totally forgot about it. Perhaps something to do with the suggestive way their bodies were grinding and squirming together, but Yuki managed to give a big heave and roll over onto Hayleigh!

With her opponent now on top, and Hayleigh on the bottom, the silver-haired newbie had lost her biggest advantage. Not only was Yuki slightly larger, but now in position to do just about anything she wanted. "Hnnnf! Nice- nngh! try!" she declared, trying to push Yuki up just enough that she could deliver a hard chop to the side of her opponent's abdomen.

[CaptainL]

After rolling atop Hayleigh, Yuki took a moment to maneuver herself back into a favorable position, but soon found herself glaring down at the silver-haired rookie from above, her hands propping herself up from the ground just beside Hayleigh's shoulders as her hot breaths touched down on her face. Yuki's brow fixed into a glare of determination. It had been a hard-fought match even this early into the game, and Hayleigh had certainly tested her skills, giving her a good run for her money. Yuki had had to try everything she could and keep her utmost focus and flow to hold the advantage and prevent herself from falling too far behind, but now, she was finally in position to turn the tables. Taking in a breath, she steeled herself - she hadn't even considered how easy the reversal had been, having been so lost in the match itself to compare it to other situations, and she was still seeing every potential moment as one that could go very wrong for her if she didn't hit it just right. So now was the time - and she got herself ready, falling atop Hayleigh and moving to snare her head in her arms before squeezing on it.

Yuki's headlock wouldn't last long, though, as unbeknownst to her, Hayleigh was already formulating a plan to get out of this tight spot. Only a few seconds after getting in place for the hold, Hayleigh's hand shot up and chopped Yuki in the side of the gut. Instantly, she had to let go of Hayleigh just as quickly as she had gotten in place, letting out a yelp as she fell over on her side. Even in such a state, Hayleigh could still hit hard where it counted, and Yuki felt it.

[DizzyKnight]

Hayleigh was just about exhausted. Yuki had proven to be far more difficult an opponent than she had originally expected, and the constant, very demanding back-and-forth grappling the two girls had been stuck into had taken a lot out of her. Her sweat was just about dripping off of her, and her mouth was wide open to let her draw in as much air as she possibly could.

Though putting an immense strain physically on the two lightweights, the match so far had been equally immensely popular with the audience. It was rare to see two wrestlers that were so close to perfectly matched as Yuki & Hayleigh were, despite Yuki's comparative lack of experience. Hayleigh managed to force Yuki off to the side, and immediately went in the opposite direction, crawling away from Yuki a short distance before pushing up onto her feet and letting herself stumble into the ropes.

Hayleigh draped her arms over the top rope to balance herself, and leaned back, both watching Yuki and loudly gasping for air in the short break she'd earned for herself.

[CaptainL]

Hayleigh may have been showing the toll the exertion of such a closely-fought match put on her, but Yuki was being pushed to her limits as well, and she had been devoting every fiber of her being, every bit of her attention, to this match. She couldn't fall behind, and she knew that as much! So it wasn't much of a surprise that when Hayleigh struck her, the blow was felt by Yuki more strongly than it might be by most, proving to be hard enough to get her to drop off her position.

As the silver-haired girl crawled away, Yuki was left lying there on her back, her chest and abdomen heaving as she tried to fill her lungs and catch her breath, building up the energy she needed to keep going. Luckily, Hayleigh seemed preoccupied with getting back to her senses as well, and that left Yuki with enough time to take care of her needs unmolested. Once she felt like she was in a good enough place, the girl rolled back across the mat towards the ropes at her side of the ring, preparing her next move - it was too far to crawl, and in her state walking would take too much effort.

But when Yuki got there, she could hear the crowd going wild, chanting her name. A smile came to her lips, now. She had earned the right to main event this show. She had won their hearts, and even with the arena not filled to full capacity, they were making enough noise to make that not matter. Before, Yuki might have wondered if this mattered. Now, it felt like the biggest night of her life. And she had to treat it like it was.

Yes. Their eyes were on her now. She couldn't let them down.

Climbing up to the top rope, Yuki held an arm in the air, letting out a yell of defiance towards Hayleigh as she felt her adrenaline build to a climax. She would then try to balance herself on the rope, before using it to spring herself off and hurtle towards Hayleigh for a flying kick. Hopefully, she thought, Hayleigh would be dazed enough for her to get the hit in, even if it took a good deal of strength on her part.