Nathan Weed vs. Makoto Takeda - Schoolgirl Crush

Stone grimaced at Amy's words, but kept her frown hidden under the shadow of her hood. A friend. That complicated things. She didn't like the idea of doing this in the first place, but at least if Nathan had been alone, they could make the beating short and sweet.

Maybe it could be a small detail, though. She had to know a few more details. "Your friend." She folded her arms and leaned back, exuding some calm. Just a fellow wrestling fan, asking questions. Not suspcious. "So, what? You're a wrestler, too?"

Stone glanced between Amy and Mako, as her leader moved closed back in after the successful knee strike. Now that Nathan was at her level, kneeling down before her, she could start taking advantage of some new options.

For instance, she could jump at him, wrap her head around his neck from behind, and try to slam him down into the floor with a  DDT. Those sort of options. It was all an effort to get him down on his back with her on top, where she could start dealing out some real damage.

Without air in his lungs, Nathan couldn’t do much to stop Mako’s assault. He had held out a feeble hand to keep her at bay when she approached, but she was able to slip easily around and execute the DDT. His nose, chest, and now his head, all within the first minute of the match- Nathan was getting steamrolled. On the other hand, Nathan’s breathing no longer sounded like somebody stretching out an old balloon. Which was good, because Mako was about to put her weight down on his chest and make breathing harder than it had to be again. Once she was there, he'd reach up and try and wrap his arms around her neck, then pull her down as a defensive measure, a way to buy the time he needed to get his breathing back in rhythm and his head to stop pounding.

“Hmm?” Amy was distracted. “Oh. Yeah. I know, it’s hard to believe, right? I’m about as likely to be a pro-wrestler as… well-” she pointed into the ring, where Mako had found her way to on top of Nathan. “Excuse me.” She stood up again. “Flawless victory, Nate! Couldn’t even touch her!”

She sat back down. “Say, speaking of which, do you know why the crowd hates that girl so much? She was barely on the ramp before they started booing.”

The DDT's crash was like sweet music to Mako's ear. She didn't go for moves like that most of the time, preferring to stick with her punches and submission holds, but that one was just the right time for the right place. With results like that, she'd have to do it more often.

She started to roll over and tried to get on top of Nathan, wanting to lock in a submission hold so she could really turn up the heat, but he was ready for her now and she found herself getting pulled in close to him, caught in his tight grip. "What's wrong, Nathan-chan?" Even through her clenched teeth, she still managed to get some sugary sweetness in her voice. "Not going too hard for you, am I?"

Mako tried to squirm around and launch a few punches into Nathan's ribs, while Stone continued to watch from the sidelines. She kept her eyes forward after Amy's question, but decided to give her the truth. Most of it, anyway.

"She's part of this gang of bikers in Tension. Their leader." She took a few sips from the Coke bottle at her side. "They're not exactly well-liked."

That revelation was enough to widen Amy's eyes and pull her attention away from the match and at her neighbor. "Her?!" Then, "We have a bike gang in Tension?!" Amy needed a moment. "Excuse me." She stood up. She was getting in a workout today. "Oy! She's a fucking gang leader! Punch away, she can take it! Don't be a pussy!" She sat down again. "Thanks for the help. I'm Amy." She held out a hand.

Even if Nathan could hear her over Mako's taunts, that was exactly the sort of outrageous lie that Amy would tell, and he would have ignored it. But it didn't matter, since Nathan had already decided that he would be on the losing end of Tension's shortest match ever if he couldn't get things under control. Which was tough to do with Mako; even with his arms firmly around the back of her neck, she was proving to be extremely unwieldy, yanking out grunts from Nathan as she struggled around and scored surprisingly painful short range punches into his midsection. He needed some distance. He needed to get back on his feet.

Nathan made some quick calculations, and came to a risky decision- he decided to let go of his hold. He figured that Mako would straighten up, judging from the pull he felt against his hands. If she did, he'd buck his hips in an attempt to tip Mako forward, pushing her right into the right straight he'd throw at her face at the same time in an attempt to knock her off. Should his gambit succeed, he'd roll away and get back to his feet.

Amy was an excitable little thing, that was for sure, and if things went the way they were supposed to go, it was almost assured that she'd get in the fight and muddle the plan up. Stone didn't like it, but she wasn't seeing a way around the facts. "Alicia." She returned the shake, nice and firm. "And you're welcome."

Back in the ring, Mako grunted as she tussled around with Nathan, wishing whoever that was in the audience would shut the fuck up and let her kick this man's ass in relative peace. He had a tight grip on her, but she was in the superior position, and she was continually working him down by inches. The match had only just begun, but even so, the lead she commanded was powerful.

Things were turned upside down, though, when Nathan released the hold. She sat up fast, reared back to give him a straight shot in the face, and found herself getting rolled for her troubles - one of the downsides of being light, made it too easy to throw her off. Not only that, but she took a mean right cross in the face as a parting gift, slamming hard into her jaw.

She tumbled off him, so wild and hard that her penny loafers fell off in the process. Despite the punch, she was able to get to her feet fast enougn and face him, rubbing the soreness out of her lip while she started to circle him. Mako's smile was back, but it was a lot more twisted and cruel than it had been before. "Good punch. Nice." The sweetness was gone, now, replaced with her usual, gruff voice. "Was starting to wonder if you had balls or not."

"Nice to meet you, Alicia." Amy smiled, but she was a little disappointed. She had hoped that her new acquaintance would be a little more sociable. Amy wasn't starving for conversation, but if Alicia had been a little chattier, well… you needed more than just one member to have a gang, and the fact remained that Alicia was one of the few in the arena who hadn't booed. But no, it seemed as though the big, conspicuous white woman trying to hide beneath her hood was just the quiet type, which was just fine. It turned out that Amy was just being paranoid, so she dropped her suspicion.

Then Nathan threw out his first punch, and her mood instantly became celebratory. “Attaboy Nate!” Amy turned to her new friend and smiled. “Gotta love live sports.” She worked a flask out of a jean pocket much more easily than you'd expect from pants that tight. She took a swig, then offered it to Alicia, her eyes still trained on the combatants in the ring. "Whiskey?"

Nathan watched as Mako’s facade melted away and her expression morphed into a sadistic sneer- it was a lot like seeing a schoolgirl transform into a monster in a Japanese horror flick. Nathan wasn’t chatty at the best of times, and especially not with strangers, but he thought that Mako would like to know. “You’re scary.” he said simply. He assumed an orthodox stance and started to move his feet- effortlessly, now that he was back in practice- as he watched Mako circle. There was more than a touch of Amy in Mako, and that meant that she’d be bringing the fight back to him before too long, and he had counterpunches waiting for her when that happened.

Stone winced as Amy yelled, almost amazed at how much volume such a small girl could produce. She was settling back in when Amy offered her some Whiskey, but she held up her hand to deflect it. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't drink." She was far, far away from the church she'd grown up with, but abstaining from alcohol was one of the few things that carried over well. She was mildly curious on how Amy managed to get it in past security, but she figured they were just lax about that sort of thing. Or Amy was just that good. Or both.

A moment passed, before Stone decided to throw in a little more small talk. Maybe she'd come up with an idea on how to avoid this oncoming catastrophe. "How do you know Nathan?"

Back in the ring, Mako was getting acquainted with her special, new friend as well. Her smile only widened with Nathan's words, but inside she was more than a little worried - he didn't just seem to be good, but professional, like there was some real experience behind that stance and skill in those punches. She'd have to tread carefully. As carefully as she ever could.

Mako threw caution to the wind and rushed towards Nathan at full speed, deciding to test just how good those defenses were with a quick barrage of punches. Left, right, left, right, left, right. They came at him straight on and rapid fire, as she tried to stay in her comfort zone and not let her height be the deciding factor.

Mako was quick. A month ago, each of Mako’s punches would have found a home in Nathan’s torso.

But a month ago, Nathan hadn’t yet met Suzy Q.

Still, Mako was tricky- Nathan hadn’t forgotten the deception that Mako had put up until just a moment ago. When Nathan stepped forward to meet Mako’s charge with a jab to the face, he fully expected her to slip around it, and he'd have to deal with whatever horrors that twisted little mind had planned for him. To his mild surprise, Mako ran headlong into his punch, apparently having fully committed to a reckless and straightforward frontal assault. But Nathan wasn’t complaining; he had a lot of ground to make up. So he stepped forward with his own combination of punches- two jabs and a cross straight at Mako’s face. If she reeled, he’d keep going with quick alternating hooks to her head.

Amy stopped yelling, no doubt to the relief of her neighbors. Nathan was getting into a groove, and going with her original plan of positive oral reinforcement would only leave her with a sore throat; besides, it didn’t look like he needed it any more. “Nathan’s a childhood friend. We went to elementary school together. Then, later, we went to the same college.” Amy took another long, nonchalant pull from her flask, keeping her eyes on the fight. “How about you guys?”

Stone opened her mouth to reply and caught herself at the last moment - 'you guys'. Plural. That made her cautious. It wasn't completely outside the realm of possibility that Amy had some idea of what was going on here and she'd put a few things together. She wasn't exactly dressed in a perfect disguise, but then, she hadn't expected Nathan's friend to be sitting right next to her, either. For now, she'd play it coy, see if Amy had just misspoken. "You guys?" She raised an eyebrow, looking between her and the match, dividing focus. "What guys?"

Mako was having a little struggle of her own, too - she'd grown frustrated, pissed off by Nathan's stubborn refusal to take her punches like the weak little bitch she knew he was. Worse yet, he tagged her with a solid combination in the face, driving her back to the middle of thing.

"Fuck-" She'd barely begun to curse before a fierce hook rocked her jaw, and she barely managed to get her arms up in time to block the second. "That all you got, huh?" She brought her arms up in full guard as his blows battered her from side to side, threatening to crack it open. "Harder, bitch!"

Her trap had failed… or maybe there was nothing to trap in the first place. Amy had no real reason to be suspicious of her new friend. So far, Alicia had been nothing but polite- a little aloof, maybe, but perfectly decent. Still, she couldn’t get rid of the gnawing feeling in her stomach... but then her gut had been wrong before. This time, she really was going to stop being so paranoid.

“Hmm?” Amy turned to Alicia, her mouth wrapped around her flask opening. She looked up at the arena ceiling as if reviewing what she’d just said, then willed a little blush into her cheeks. “God, I’m so rude. I was only half paying attention to our conversation; that question was automatic. I’m so sorry about that.” She smiled apologetically, and turned back to the action in the ring.

Nathan could see a little light starting to shine through Mako’s guard, but judging from the defiant evenness of Mako’s voice, she was going to be a tough nut to crack. But the great thing about wrestling was that he wasn’t limited to punching to break through somebody’s defenses. In a boxing match, breaking through a guard or pushing somebody toward a corner was a game of patience and constant vigilance. But here? What was to stop Nathan from taking Mako down by her legs, then throwing her by giant swing into the nearest turnbuckle? Nothing, that’s what. Nathan’s fists were his strongest asset, but they weren’t always going to be the best tools for the job.

He decided to try it. He threw one last hook before swooping down and grabbing Mako’s ankles. He would yank them back while simultaneously pushing forward with his shoulder to knock her on her back. Without interruption, Nathan would lock in Mako’s legs under his arms and begin to spin, doing two full rotations before releasing her hopefully into a corner.