Kyo Akamatsu vs. Carmen Rodriguez - Let's You and Him Fight

Slowly but agonizingly, Kyo rolled up onto his hands and knees, sweat dripping from his forehead. The ring seemed to sway and swerve underneath him, but he kept moving, staying focuses on the flatness of the mat and the straight lines of the ringside to steady himself.

Eventually, Kyo managed to stagger up to his feet, swaying unsteadily, but still standing. As he stood, he would turn to Carmen to see if she was standing as well.

Carmen was on her feet, though 'standing' might have been a bit of an exaggeration. She really looked much more like she was still on her back, only vertical, now, instead of horizonatl.

Her back was hunched, as some of Kyo's earlier torture came back to bite her right on the ass. Her knees were hurting, and she couldn't even remember. Whatever the case, it made standing straight much harder than it needed to be, so she was forced into a slack posture, hunching. Breathing heavy. So close to done she could feel the end coming.

Fortunately, Kyo didn't look any better, so she was pretty sure the next time he went down he wouldn't be getting up. Carmen lurched towards him and swung wide, trying to bring him down with a clothesline that probably wouldn't have done much at the start of the match. Hopefully, it would be just enough to start bringing things to a close.

Kyo saw Carmen inching towards him, and laboured to do the same. It was hard-- his body was doing its best to tell him that it REALLY wanted to lie down right now, and maybe take a two-day nap with a warm bottle of sake. But he wasn't going to give Rodriguez the satisfaction of seeing him lying unconscious at her feat like some fresh kill. "Come on," he muttered, "is that...all you've got? Don't...waste...my time."

Carmen didn't need any encouragement, though-- in a burst of movement, she suddenly sprang towards him. He reacted quickly, but his hurting muscles were slow and sluggish. What he had originally intended as a sidestep and a judo toss instead turned into a clumsy grab at Carmen's arm, the motion causing him to stumble drunkenly. Cursing, Kyo tried to maintain a hold of Carmen's arm, the two wrestlers twisting and shoving against each other as Kyo tried to trip or force Carmen down onto her front.

In another time, if her body had been working with even half of its usual strength and speed, Carmen would have ripped her arm away from Kyo's grasp and made him pay for even thinking about trying to engage her at close range. Two, three good hits, and he'd be on the floor, trying to remember his name.

But she wasn't at half strength. Not even a quarter. Maybe less than a tenth. And Kyo's move, clumsy as it was, was more than enough for that.

Carmen tried to give him a headbutt as they tussled, pushing into him and swinging at his skull with her own, but that just made the trip worse. She collapsed, fell hard on her front, and started to try and push up immediately. If Kyo had any working brain cells left after all of this, then she would need to get up fast, before things got much more unpleasant.

Kyo grunted a little as Carmen's momentum pulled the two of them downwards, with Kyo landing against Carmen's back as the Latina toppled onto her front. He took the moment to take a deep breath, and get his bearings straight. That took all of one second, surprisingly, despite his dazed and battered state. The next second was spent locking in another submission.

He kept one hand holding onto Carmen's trapped arm, while his free arm snaked around, locking tightly across her forehead, bending her head backwards and sideways. It wasn't that powerful a submission, and, with only one arm to work with, he knew it wasn't going to make Carmen tap any time soon. But it would at least keep her in place for a bit until he could get into a position for something more powerful, and make her feel uncomfortable in the meantime.

"Last chance to give up, Rodriguez-san," he whispered into Carmen's ear, even as he felt her trying to push back up from underneath him. Carmen had put up one hell of a fight so far, and he didn't want to put her in the body-wrecking finisher he had in mind if he didn't have to.

While the fall was nasty, Carmen was banking on Kyo's tiredness to keep him from immediately capitalizing on their position. After all, even though she felt like crap, he had to feel like shit after the thorough beating she'd given him through the match. Neither of them should be able to get up.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Kyo had just a little more left in the tank than she did. Later, she might have time to wonder why that was, exactly. When she wasn't being twisted into a living pretzel.

She groaned as she was pulled into Kyo's hold, and that groan grew even louder as he gave her the ultimatum - tap out or suffer even worse than before. The smart thing would be to just give up and let what was obviously going to happen just...happen.

But Carmen wasn't feeling too smart at the moment. "Bring it." She'd come this far, might as well go all the way.

Once again, Carmen simply wasn't giving in. Admittedly, Kyo didn't have much left in the tank, and he wasn't using that powerful a hold, but still, the tough Latina was proving she could take whatever Kyo could throw at her. Around them, the crowd was going wild, with many people in the audience cheering Carmen on. And, Kyo now found himself admitting, if he had been a spectator rather than a competitor today, he'd be joining them.

Even so, it was time to finish this. Using his grip on Carmen's head, he slammed her face once against the mat, hoping to stun her just long enough to get into position. He rolled off of her, swaying a little as dizziness threatened to catch up with him. He shook his head, sweat dripping from his hair, and walked behind Carmen, grabbing for her booted heels in an attempt to intertwine them and lock them around his own legs. Once he did that, he'd be able to apply his finisher...

Deep inside, there was a part of Carmen that was screaming with all its might for to just tap out and give up the match before Kyo did was she suspected he was about to do and made things so much more excruciating. It was madness to just let him complete the hold like this, not when the end was inevitable and going on would just cause unnescessary pain.

But that voice was too distant for her to pay it much mind. She had to take every drop of what Kyo had to offer. All of it.

She let out a weak grunt as her face was slammed into the mat with demanding force, knocking of what little sense she had left and leaving her on the hazy edge of conscious. She was dimly aware of him doing something with her legs, but it hardly mattered - she wasn't about to stop him. Not now, not like this, not when even the simple act of blinking felt like a chore.

A part of Kyo really didn't want to do this. Carmen had given him one hell of a match, and he would have preferred to avoid causing unnecessary agony and simply pin her instead-- he owed her that much, after all. But rules were rules, and for better or worse, Carmen had earned nothing less than to be defeated by his finisher, something he usually tried on his toughest opponents.

He was able to interlock their legs no problem, folding Carmen's heels securely around his. He almost fell over twice as dizziness threatened to overwhelm him, but he somehow managed to keep standing. Wearily, he looked up to the crowd and raised an arm to them, signalling that he was about to use his signiature finisher. Then, leaning down, he grabbed Carmen's head, and dropped backwards.

If all went according to plan, he would fall on his back, tucking Carmen's head under his armpit as he did so. At the same time, he would point his legs upwards, lifting Carmen's lower body up off the mat in an arched, elevated position. The elevated position, and the grip on her head, would arch her upper body backwards in a painful Romero special. The crowd went nuts, many of them screaming for Carmen to escape this hold-- more than a few of Kyo's fans remembered how he had used it to put away Mindy Priest, but many others remembered how the likes of Abbey Abraxas and Purin had escaped it in the past...

Abbey and Purin might have been able to escape from this hold, but Carmen wasn't either of them. They hadn't fought for as long as she had against Kyo, hadn't been pushed to the limits she reached. It was hardly a fair comparison - Carmen was, plain and simply, done, and barring a miracle that wasn't going to change. Since she'd given up praying years ago, she didn't think divine intervention would be forthcoming.

There was a name for this move, but she'd be damned if she could remember. Intense agony made rational thught and long-term memory something of a chore. She knew all she needed to know about it, really - it was breaking her in half, it hurt like hell, and her chances of escape were nada.

The ending was inevitable, but she fought it, regardless. Held on for as long as she could, tried to put up a fight with what little energy she had left. But, in the end, her body needed the release. Her hand came up, held in the air, hesitating as the war between common sense and honor raged in her head, but it was clear which side was coming out on top.

Carmen tapped out.