L.A.W. - League of Anime Wrestling

That could have been worse, Kyo thought to himself as he rolled away from Sheena, spinning back up to his knees. If he hadn't blocked that kick in time, it would have left him stunned, and at Sheena's mercy. The fact that he had managed to block it in time was partway luck, partway skill, but all the same, Sheena had nonetheless caught him by surprise. She was more than just a fit athlete, he realized: she was a highly adaptable wrestler, really good at thinking on her feet and able to find creative ways to escape or counter holds. She might not just be a match for him physically, but in skill as well.

The crowd clapped at this early display of skills between the two wrestlers. As Sheena stood back to her feet, Kyo did the same, just as she paid him a compliment. Or was it a veiled insult? Better than anticipated? Had she been anticipating him to be a poor opponent?

He put the thought out of his mind. "Likewise," he breathed. "You're pretty good, for an Akan." It was only as the words left his mouth that he realized what he had said. Why had he felt the need to mention her family, specifically?

He tried to put the thought out of his mind as he circled Sheena again. Once again, he would move up and try to initiate a grapple with her...but this time, he would spin to the side, trying to grab for her arm and whip her towards the ropes! As Sheena bounced back, he would drop down against the mat, allowing her to run over him, before kipping back up and trying to nail her with a clothesline as she bounced back again!

Admittedly Sheena's words just kinda slipped out without much thought behind them, but as she thought about it after the fact it may not have come across as respectful as she intended it to be. That was fine though, if Kyo found it insulting than it would just show he was thin skinned, although as he did respond, Sheena immediately bristled.

Not just because of the minor slight to her family. That was overlookable. It was the face he knew her real name and USED it while the cameras were rolling. Granted her real name wasn't exactly well kept, but that was backstage, far from the cameras and microphones that could broadcast it further.

Clenching her fists tightly Sheena would narrow her eyes at Kyo dangerously. "I'd appreciate it if you kept that name out of your mouth." Sheena said in a harsh whisper. Mostly intended to keep Kyo from speaking aloud her name again, but it could be construed in a number of different ways, such as her telling him he wasn't worthy to say her family name, not that it mattered to her right now.

Circling Kyo Sheena would keep her fists up, ready to react at a moments notice as the male suddenly moved in toward her! Reaching up for another grapple Sheena would curse slightly as she saw him move out of the way and move to grab her arm before irish whipping her! 'Shit!' Sheena thought as she was sent running, bouncing off the ropes and right back at Kyo, but was forced to leap up to not trip over his body.

'Damn, gotta try and turn this around in my favor.' Sheena thought as she bounced off the ropes again and tried to take control of her situation, holding out her arm as she came back at Kyo, intending to come crashing into Kyo with a clothesline!

....Though it seemed that was Kyo's intention from the start as she found an arm crashing into her chest at the same time her own hit Kyo's! Regardless of how he took the blow, Sheena would get taken off her feet, sent crashing against the mat with a cry of pain from the sheer impact felt across her chest!

Kyo had been worried that his comment about Sheena's family might cause offence in some way. True, there was an ongoing rivalry between their families, but Sheena herself had done nothing to merit Kyo's disdain or ill-will, so there was no need for Kyo to make snide remarks about her or her family. To Kyo's surprise, however, Sheena reacted with quiet but intense anger, balling her fist and telling him, in no uncertain terms, to not mention her family again. Her reaction was worse than Kyo had expected: was her family just generally a touchy subject for her, or was she angry because, an Akamatsu, had mentioned them?

He tried to keep it out of his head as grabbed for Sheena's arm and whipped her towards ropes. The moment the purplette came bouncing back to him, Kyo was already running to meet her, arm raised as he prepared to rock her world with a brutal clothesline...

...and found himself running right towards Sheena's own outstretched arm. Oh. Apparently Sheena had had the same idea.

A sharp cry of pain erupted from Kyo's leeps as Sheena's forearm slammed against his bare chest, just as his forearm hit home as well. The ring came up to meet him at that point as he crashed hard onto his back. For a few seconds, he was on the mat, clutching his chest, wheezing a little after having taken the full force of Sheena's strength to the chest.

Then he was up again, rolling up to his feet, knowing that he had to keep moving, staggering upright. As soon as he got to his feet, then, assuming she was standing, he would try to rush at Sheena again, faking another lockup before spinning around behind her, trying to wrap his arms around her waist and take her down to the mat with a German suplex. If she was still down, though, then he would go for a simpler approach and rush forward, trying to nail her with a knee drop to keep her stunned...

Sheena knew deep down Kyo didn't meant to cross a line with her, and she was trying not let that cloud her judgement of him or in this match in general. 'Its not his fault, he doesn't know.' Sheena thought to herself on loop, trying to suppress the natural anger that bubbled from her secret nearly leaking in such a way with so many eyes and ears on them. Truthfully her dad finding out about her wrestling was not something she wanted to deal with right now, even if it was inevitable. Worse yet the constant adrenaline and increasing pace of the match was only making it harder for those feelings of annoyance to go away, let alone grow.

Especially since she now found herself caught in a web of high speed movement by Kyo with him grabbing her arm and launching her at the ropes with a irish whip, forcing the purple haired woman to rebound off them and back at her opponent forcing to Sheena to think on the fly, which in this case led to her raising her arm, trying to make use of her momentum for a clothesline of her own.... an idea that she apparently lifted without intending from her opponent as the man did the same. "NGH!" She cried out in pain, getting taken off her feet as a result and groaning in pain while holding her chest.

'Damn.' Sheena thought, getting up as quick as possible and turning to Kyo, only for him to be a little faster, getting behind her and pulling her off her feet! 'Crap!' Sheena thought, bracing herself before crashing into the mat with a german suplex! "GUH!" She gasped out in pain, arching her back in response and hissing through her teeth before looking up and watching as Kyo leap up for what would no doubt be nothing good for Sheena!

Sucking in a breath Sheena would force herself to roll to the side, aiming to avoid the knee drop! If successful in doing so than Sheena would push up with her arm while swiveling on her hips, bringing her leg arching around to try and slam a kick into Kyo's head shortly after he landed if he didn't move back or stand immediately after missing, trying to hit him with a dance like capoeira style kick to the head!

Sheena was fast; this fact as being proven again and again the more they wrestled. Her reaction time was flawless, easily a match for his own, and the fact that she had launched into a clothesline at the same time as him meant that they were using similar tactics. If he was going to get an edge in this fight, Kyo knew, then he couldn't give Sheena an opportunity to recover, and that meant hitting her while she was down.

It was for this reason that Kyo nailed Sheena with a brutal german suplex. It was further for this reason that he immediately burst into a run, bouncing off the far ropes and rebounding towards Sheena with the aim of nailing her with an equally brutal drop kick. If all had gone according to plan, then at the very least this drop kick should have landed and driven the air from Sheena's lungs, leaving her even more vulnerable.

But once again, Sheena's quick reaction time revealed itself: the girl spun to the side, narrowly avoiding the knee drop. A sharp hiss of pain escaped from Kyo's lips as his knee slammed against the mat...and then, a second later, Sheena's long legs were spinning, and one of her boots thudded into the side of Kyo's skull. "GUUUH!" he grunted, the blow snapping his head to the side and sending him tumbling over onto his front, clutching his head and kicking at the mat.

Laying on the mat while an opponent was still up on their feet was always an especially dangerous position to be in. Even more so when the two were so close in skill as Sheena and Kyo. As a result though it had been beaten into Sheena to have her awareness kick into overdrive whenever she was in a position such as this. That's why as Kyo came in to follow up his german suplex with a dropkick to the chest Sheena had been able to roll out of the way and and respond with a move she picked up from her girlfriend Akari by landing a dance esque kick onto Kyo's head in retaliation!

Landing the move successfully was about as far as Sheena got though. After all she was still reeling from the german suplex, as well as the general exertion of their short, but intense match thus far. Rolling over a bit before stopping on her side Sheena would push herself up with a bit of heavy breathing, focusing on Kyo first and foremost. 'Gonna have to try and slow the pace down.' Sheena thought to herself as she gradually pushed herself to a standing position, getting ready to circle Kyo once more once he did the same.

Forget fast, thought rang through Kyo's skull along with the vibrations left by Sheena's boot. Forget skilled. His opponent was quite simply something else: he hadn't expected her to pull a risky manouver like a capoiera kick from where she had been positioned, let alone one at such close range, let alone mere seconds after dodging a knee strike. Sheena was, quite simply, something else, someone much more ingenious and quick thinking than anyone else he had faced before. She might, he begrudgingly admitted, even be better than him.

In short, she was going to be one hell of a challenge, and that made this match that much better.

He had expected her to follow up, at that point, just as he had; to hammer down at him while he was down, and so he braced himself, readying himself to roll out of the way in turn. To his surprise, however, Sheena was keeping her distance, getting to a standing position and circling him once more. He was surprised by this, until he realized she was doing it as much out of prudence as courtesy: this way she gave herself some necessary time to recover, catch her breath. Smart thinking, all told.

Without wasting time, Kyo rolled back to his feet smoothly, wincing a little as his knee flared with pain. He put it out of his mind as he mirrored Sheena's circle. "My apologies," he said. "About the name, I mean. I didn't know my uttering it would cause offence." With those pleasantries out of the way, Kyo would once again dart in, moving to lock up with his foe. His arms might meet hers for the barest of seconds, though, before he would suddenly spin to the side, aiming to deliver a sudden knife-edge chop to the side of Sheena's head! The blow would have two intended consequences-- one, to stun and disorient his opponent, and second, to lure her into attacking back...

If Kyoko was here right now she probably would be lecturing Sheena from the sidelines about not dive bombing her foe while she had the chance and laying the smackdown while he was down. Sure she had changed for the better in a lot of ways but Kyoko was still gonna be vicious. It was part of whos she was. But it wasn't who Sheena was as she opted for the opposite strategy. Letting Kyo pick himself up while Sheena waited, biding her time and recovering her stamina as she did so.

'Slow and steady wins the race.' Sheena reminded herself as she watched Kyo roll over, catching the wince of pain Kyo had as his knee touched the canvas, and narrowing her eyes as a result. 'Bingo.' Sheena thought to herself before looking up to meet Kyo's eyes as he resumed a grappling stance as well and began to circle the purple haired girl in kind as Sheena did the same.

Oddly enough though before either did anything he... apologized? Eyes widening slightly as she didn't expect him to say such a thing. She was about to respond honestly but Kyo chose now to run in towards her. Immediately Sheena's instincts took over as she raised her arms in a guard, only for it not end up being neccessary. Instead Kyo spun out of the way and sent a brutal chop to the side of her head! "Guh!" Sheena groaned out in pain, forced to take a few steps back and shake her head to try and focus before gritting her teeth and darting back forward, arm pulled back to unleash a forearm smash aimed at Kyo's jaw!

Kyo's forearm chop-- his signature Haji Waza, named for a kendo technique he was fond of-- struck home, his forearm and side of his hand smacking against the side of Sheena's head. The force of the blow staggered her, as it was meant to, but didn't drop her. It wasn't supposed to, though: what Kyo really wanted to do was daze his Akan opponent, leave her stunned and unfocused, and prompt her into an immediate retaliation.

A retaliation that came swiftly, with Sheena rushing at him, arm raised for a forearm smash. In an instant, Kyo was running to meet her, aiming to catch that arm of hers the moment it swung and drop back, unbalancing her and hopefully sending her dropping down onto her front, aiming to slam her face-first into the mat. If Kyo managed this, then he would immediately follow up by locking his legs around her extended arm and leaning across her back, arms locking across her face and wrenching back on her chin as he tried to catch her in a crossface!

Sheena was still a bit surprised by the impromptu apology from Kyo, which may have been part of what led to her reaction time not being as great as she would have liked and ultimately led to her being caught by Kyo's arm, disorienting her as she was sent stumbling. It wouldn't stop the purple haired woman though as she came charging back at Kyo, arm poised to deliver another strike towards him, but it appeared this too was just what he had wanted.

Feeling her arm caught Sheena knew immediately that there was a problem as she was pulled down the mat by her foe! "Ngh!" Sheena grunted as her face smacked into the mat but it was paltry compared to what came next as Kyo wrapped his legs around her arm before grabbing her face and pulling back for a tight crossface! "Gahhh!" Yelling in pain from the submission Sheena gritted her teeth and kicked her legs against the mat..

But she refused to give up! Clenching her fists she would curl her caught arm tighter around Kyo's legs while her other tried to push herself up just a bit to aid her in getting some leverage. If successful Sheena would try and turn on her side while pulling up on Kyo's leg, looking to turn him over and press his shoulders against the mat while holding his legs in an attempt to reverse his submission into a pinfall attempt!