L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

Minami was beginning to show her teeth now that the match was starting to heat up. Granted Keqing had landed a decent hit against her, but Minami wasn't one to let a rookie outshine her in any way, shape or form. So despite that Minami had taken advantage of her opponent's eagerness to impress, and the moment the girl swung her leg up for a kick Minami took it like a champ before using the newly found grip on her opponent to send the rookie down to the mat with a dragon screw!

Getting to her knees as she did so Minami made sure to maintain her grip on the girl's foot, fully intending to twist the limb and lock Keqing into a vicious submission.... Or she would have had the girl not shot a desperate kick right into the veteran's shoulder.

"Ngh!" Wincing in pain from the impact Minami would release her grip on the girl's leg and shoot her hand up to nurse her shoulder. Eyes tracking Keqing as she moved the older woman's eyes would narrow like a predator focusing on its prey. "Tch." Breathing in annoyance the vet would roll her shoulder, allowing her opponent to get back up, not being in a run to take control of the girl once again.

Keqing's wild and blind kick managed to hit something hard, forcing Minami to release her leg before she got twisted into a nasty submission hold. She let out a sign of relief quickly pulling her legs forward and to get her feet underneath her. On the mats was where Toshimi was the most dangerous, so Keqing had to remain standing as much as possible to prevent the veteran from getting her into one of those famous joint locks.

Deciding to try and use speed to her advantage, Keqing sprang up from a runner's crouch, not bothering to get to fully to her feet before launching her next strike. She would sprint towards the ropes, bounce off of them to redirect her momentum, and bound back towards Toshimi at a speed fast enough to catch the veteran off guard, she hoped.

"Hah!" Keqing yelled, jumping up to try and deliver a dropkick straight at Toshimi's chest!

With a look of annoyance on her face Minami stared down her purple haired opponent. She had a solid grip of the girl's leg and was a hare's breath close to locking in a submission that would have surely put the match firmly in her corner. That being said however she was at least impressed by the rookie's ability to acknowledge how disastrous getting trapped in one of her submissions would have been. But that didn't make the position any less annoying to her.

Watching the girl as she got back up Minami would wait as the girl suddenly bounce off the ropes at a high speed towards her! Eyes widening slightly at the surprising level of quickness from the girl there wasn't much Minami could do as the girl's feet crashed directly into her chest! "Ngh!" Grunting from pain as she was taken off her feet Minami would grit her teeth before glaring up at her opponent.

Pulling her legs up Minami would show the rookie her own quickness as she suddenly threw her legs forward, kipping up to her feet! As she did so Minami would swing her arm around, intending to crash a forearm smash into Keqing's chest in retaliation!

Fast as lightning, Keqing was upon Toshimi with a huge dropkick aimed straight at her chest! Both her heels crashed into the veteran's chest, taking her clean off her feet in a single blow! The crowd roared as they weren't expecting such offense from the rookie. It gave Keqing more confidence, as it seemed that maybe she stood a chance!

After Keqing landed, she turned to face Toshimi and keep up the pressure. What she saw caught her completely by surprise. Toshimi kipped up her feet, seemingly unfazed by the dropkick! The rookie's eyes widened as Toshimi swung her arm around. She quickly raised both her arms, jumping backwards to try and avoid the blow.

"Urk!" Keqing grunted as Toshimi's forearm hit her arms. she blocked the worst of the blow and avoided most of the rest. Landing on the ball of her feet, Keqing immediately swung back!

"Hah!" she yelled, throwing an elbow forward to try and hit Toshimi again in the chest. After all, she had landed a hard blow already, her next hit would surely hit even worse!

Minami narrowed her eyes at Keqing as she hit the majority of the girl's arms, managing to push her back but not knock her over. 'That will be a problem.' Minami thought to herself with narrowed eyes as she watched the girl land on her feet, tensing her body in response as she waited.

Given that this had become a impromptu striking contest between the two it didn't take a genius to think that the girl would try again for another blow. The only question was how the girl would attempt to strike, and how Minami would meet it.

That being said Keqing seemed to opt for the more direct route, swinging her arm forward to try and go for another forearm smash. Narrowing her eyes from this Minami would smirk softly. 'Here we go.' She thought to herself with a evil grin.

Turning on her heel Minami's arm would dart up, snatching Keqing's arm as it came close. If she was successful Minami would turn, intending to flip her younger opponent over her and slam her into the mat with a hip toss. If she was successful in doing so then Minami would process to hold onto the limb before throwing herself back, swinging her legs up and leaning back, trying to go for a cross armbreaker!

Throwing her arm forward, Keqing expected a jarring hit as her elbow smashed into Toshimi's chest. Instead she felt no such thing. Toshimi was able to easily counter her direct attack, one arm hooking her own, and with an impressive display of strength and skill throw Keqing head over heels onto the mat! Keqing gasped as she landed hard on her back, not expecting to have her move reversed upon her in such a way. And that was only the beginning of her troubles, as she realized that her arm was still in Toshimi's grasp!

"No!" Keqing gasped as Toshimi immediately locked in her next move. The joint lock queen began her work, trapping Keqing's arm between her legs before pulling back for a cross armbreaker! Keqing flexed her arm as hard as she could to prevent Toshimi from locking in the move. The veteran was just too strong though, and she had her entire upper body against Keqing's arm.

"AHHH!" Keqing screamed in pain as the hold got locked in. She wouldn't last long against a submission expert like Toshimi! Keqing tried to push off the mats and twist her body to relieve some of the pressure on her arm, struggling as hard as she could to pull her arm out of Toshimi's grasp!

Success. For the first time in the match Minami had locked in one of her well known and vicious submissions. In this case a socket wrenching armbar that saw Minami pull back as far as she could, holding onto Keqing's hand tightly to not only maintain leverage but also prevent the thrashing girl in her grasp from trying to grab her hand. After all that would be the girl's only method of salvation in this bout and Minami wasn't willing to let her have even a moment of relief.

As she pulled back though Minami found Keqing's thrashing to be rather irritating and decided to do something about that. Shifting her legs to a crossed position over Keqing's body Minami hooked her ankles, securing her position and insuring that the girl wouldn't be able to escape. Not easily at least. But then, Minami take a reaffirmed grip on her opponent's fingers before bending them back as far as they would go just to add some more pain to the hold!

Looking up at the screens surrounding them though the veteran saw how long the mat had been going and cursed softly. 'Still too early.' She thought to herself, knowing the match had to go a certain length for it to count for her path to Apex.

So despite her position and ability to potentially end the mat here and now, Minami would uncross her legs and release Keqing's arm before rolling back onto her feet. "You're lucky this match needs to go on longer rookie." Minami said with disdain to the girl while crossing her arms under her bust with a stern look. "Now get up." She said harshly, as if she were a drill sergeant to a disobedient recruit.

"Hrrrrk!" Keqing let out a pained groan as Toshimi wrenched back on her arm, straightening it out and fully locking in her hold. Desperately she tried to twist around and grab her arm to pull it from the veteran's grasp, but her move was easily countered by Toshimi's legs. She got forced onto her back, her arm hyperextended, her elbow joint pushed to its limit in an instant. She screamed out in pain, only moments away from submitting to the veteran's expertly applied hold.

Only for Toshimi to release her after only a second! Keqing let out a surprised but relieved gasp, pulling her arm back against her chest and cradling it. She looked up at Toshimi in confusion, then realized what the veteran was saying. She couldn't end this match too quickly and had to give her a chance to fight back. Keqing's face burned with embarrassment and shame as she realized that she was being toyed with this whole time.

The Chinese girl pushed back to her feet, not letting that realization get to her too much. Even if winning was out of the question, she wasn't going to go down without a fight! Shaking out her arm, Keqing got back into a fighting stance. Taking a deep breath, she made her move.

"Hah!" Keqing lunged forward again, this time trying to lock up with Toshimi and use her momentum to drive the veteran back a step. That was all she needed, as she would then try to transition her grip to grab behind Toshimi's head in a side headlock, before attempting to take her down to the mat with a hip toss!

Allowing Keqing to get back up to her feet after the near match ending hold she had her in Minami would cross her arms over chest as she waited for the girl to move. The damned time requirement for these matches was already starting to irritate the woman and she now found herself having to hold back in order to insure this bout they were in wasn't a waste of time by being eligible for Apex.

But that left one critical issue for the dark haired woman. Namely how she would extend this match out to its required length. After all in the short time since the match had begun she had proven that she was tougher and more skilled on the mats then the girl. But that was part of the problem. Any hold that Minami got the girl into ran the risk of having her tap out too early, meaning the vast majority of her offense was off limits for now.

So as Keqing came charging back in once more towards her Minami made a decision. That decision being to do nothing. Rather than dodge her opponent or try to counter or anything of that nature Minami would instead allow herself to be captured by the girl. Forced down into the headlock by her Minami released a soft grunt in response before she was taken off her feet and onto the mat.

Landing with a soft groan and light shaking of the ring from the impact Minami laid there and did nothing for the moment. 'I may as well see what this brat is capable of.' Minami thought to herself resolutely as she looked up at the lights above her, more than confident in her ability to escape or endure whatever Keqing tried against her.

Feeling Toshimi put up little resistance, Keqing was under no illusions that she had caught her opponent off guard. No, Toshimi just wasn't fighting back. After that nearly match-ending submission, she had already demonstrated to Keqing the difference between their skill levels, and how even when she wasn't in control she actually was. She was just toying with Keqing to extend the match to its required time limit.

If Toshimi wanted to toy with Keqing though, that gave the rookie a chance to upset the veteran. She didn't care too much about extending the match to a certain length, as she wasn't participating in the Apex tournament. So now that she had Toshimi in her grasp, she felt like she could try a hold to make Toshimi submit!

Maintaining a firm grip around Toshimi's head, Keqing shifted her weight to the side, pressing down with her baxl on Toshimi's chest to keep the veteran down. Wrenching Toshimi's neck in the hold, she would apply quite a bit of pressure on Toshimi, testing the veteran's endurance!