Haruka Date vs. Julia Rogers

Haruka winced as the blow rained in. It was a fun move, a powerful move, but the impact of her legs on Julia's body caused her some damage as well. The Silent Phoenix was breathing hard now and exhaustion was beginning to set in. Haruka wasted little time as she knew she had little time to spare. Haruka folded Julia neatly in two for a matchbook pin, hoping the kick and the bomb were enough to end the match.

ONE!!!

The ref girl counted. Haruka began breathing deeply, hoping to ameliorate some of the worse effects of her exhaustion. Part of her knew that there was still a little while to go. This match would be a marathon, not a sprint, but Haruka held the pin in anyways. Her chest rose and fell with every breath.

Mere seconds after having Haruka crash down onto her, Julia was put on her back and her legs were pushed overhead, folding her up in a picture perfect matchbook pin. There was no immediate movement from the blonde as she heard the ref slap the mat and start the pin count.

“TWO!” the ref girl shouted as her hand came down a second time. The hand rose again, and as it started to fall, Julia let out a sudden shout while thrusting her legs up and throwing an arm forward to push her shoulder off the mat. The count was broken, but the luchadora wasn’t out of the woods just yet.

The blonde’s chest heaved up and down as the effects of the match made themselves perfectly known to her as well. But as she tried with all her might to fight through it as she rolled over onto her front, before slowly beginning to try to push herself up to her hands and knees. “Not...done...”

Julia kicked out. Damned. The Silent Phoenix backed off a little bit. She stood up and kept her eyes on the masked woman. It made her seem a little threatening a little mysterious. Haruka loved trying to read her opponents, to try and guess their next move. But Julia was a little bit harder to try and beaad on.

Haruka slumped her shoulders. She tried to stand up straight as much as she could. The Silent Phoenix then brought herself all the way upright and got herself in her ready stance. Come on Julia. This match doesn't have a whole lot left. And we're going to spring to the finish line.

Her hands were open. The clinched fist is for attack, for a brawler. But Haruka wanted to keep her options and would look for counters and dodges. Even if her back was still hurting, even if all her bones cried out for rest and mercy, even if the fans were going nuts for Julia. They appreciated her breaking out of the pin as the ref's hand was coming down for the three count and they were showing it as loudly as they could.

The crowd had erupted as Julia managed to kick out of Haruka’s pin, and now the entire audience seemed to be roaring out chants for the luchadora. And as she got to her hands and knees, still panting in clear exhaustion from this high impact bout, each shout from the stands just began to feed her adrenaline more and more.

Slowly but surely, Julia began to pull herself further and further up to a vertical base. Out of the corner of her eye, she vaguely saw just enough of Haruka to get an idea of where she was. But the Silent Phoenix wasn’t attacking, which most likely meant she was just waiting for the luchadora to get back up before going in for the kill. Yet knowing this, when Julia finally managed to get to her feet, she’d positioned her back to her opponent. To many, it probably seemed she was too delirious to know where she even was.

However, Julia did have a plan, albeit a risky one. But then again, high risk had been one of the defining factors of almost every move taken by either competitor in the entire match. And hardly a second after getting back to her feet, the masked maiden would fall backward while whipping her right boot up and overhead, flipping back as much as she could in attempt to catch Haruka by surprise with Julia’s signature Overhead Kick!

Haruka had moved in, slowly, cautiously. As it turns out, it was not quite slowly and cautiously enough. A kick slammed into her head and Haruka saw stars before she bit the canvas. The Silent Phoenix's mouth lolled open and she closed her eyes. There was a temptation to succumb to the inky blackness of unconsciousness but Haruka fought it off as best she could. The roar of the crowd was dulled by her failing senses.

Haruka was breathing slowly now. The kick was going to leave a nasty welt in the morning, that was for sure. The Silent Phoenix pushed up against the mat to try and get up but failed. She collapsed back down to the mat with a moan. This match had taken a lot out of her- she had been hit with move after move, and Julia's high-flying attack was proving to be too much for her.

The Silent Phoenix opened her eyes. It wasn't over, not yet. Haruka pushed with all her might to try and get up and found the progress to be slow but palpable. Now all she had to do was worry about her opponent....

Julia felt her boot hit right on the mark as her kick floored the Silent Phoenix. Immediately after landing the blonde rolled over to the nearest set of ropes, then grit her teeth and groaned in pain as she grabbed onto the ropes and slowly began to use them to pull herself up to her feet. “Come on... Get up!” she said to herself as she moved.

The luchadora’s masked head was throbbing, her ribs aching. She wasn’t out of gas yet, but there sure wasn’t much at all left to spare. The crowd sensed something big was in the making, and it just might come down to which of the two warriors managed to recover the most over the next few, indescribably precious moments. And as Julia held onto the ropes while turning to look at Haruka, she saw the Wrestle Angles veteran struggling, yet fighting with everything she had to get back to her feet.

This was it. A perfect opportunity seemed to be sitting right in front of Julia. All she had to do was muster the strength to take advantage of it. And with the entire crowd on fire like it was, she wasn’t about to disappoint them if she could help it. Once Haruka was just about halfway up, Julia leaned into the ropes, using them to help propel her toward her foe. Moving as fast as she could while wincing with each step, the masked woman would then jump into the air while throwing her right boot up as high as she could, before attempting to finish Haruka off by swinging her leg down toward the back of the Phoenix’s head with a potentially devastating Axe Kick!

Crunch. The sound of Julia's axe kick slamming into Haruka's skull rattled around the arena. Haruka was flattened immediately. There was no clinging to consciousness this time- Haruka was out like a light. The crowd was on their feet, cheering wildly after the successful move. It bounced off the Silent Phoenix's ears and swirled around the arena.

Haruka lay there, out of it. She wasn't even sure what hit her, as if it mattered. Her limbs were akimbo and her heart rate was slowed. The crowd tried to get her to wake up as quickly as she could.

Julia's Axe Kick landed with full force, and the Silent Phoenix came crashing back down onto the mat. The impact of that kick had sent the audience into another frenzy, and the luchadora could feel herself closing in on victory.

She felt like an olympic sprinter coming down the final stretch of an intense race. All she had to do was make that last push. The blonde crawled toward the Silent Phoenix's seemingly unconscious body, groaning out in exhaustion and pain with each inch.

And as she reached Haruka's battered body, Julia rolled the woman onto her back, before dropping her body to lay across her foe's torso. Her own chest heaved as she panted, as the referee knelt beside them and slapped the mat to start the count.

"ONE!"

Haruka's body was no longer under her own control. She was at the mercy of Julia. It wasn't so bad, as Julia was a face and a good sport at that. There was little chance she would be stripped and humiliated. But when she roused, this one would hurt nonetheless.

TWO!!!

The Silent Phoenix began to stir. Not enough to break the pin. But her eyes crept open and she looked up at the lights of the arena. She had forgotten where she was, what she was doing, and what was going on. Haruka felt weak. She closed her eyes again and did not trouble Julia any further.

Julia had used the last of her energy delivering that finishing move and crawling into the pin immediately after. She was completely spent now, and had completely given her all. And inwardly she prayed that would be enough to keep the Silent Phoenex down. And thankfully, it was.

"THREE!"

The ref girl's hand struck the mat a final time, and she called for the bell to signal the end of the match. Julia's music once again began to play throughout the arena, and the blonde rolled off of her more than worthy foe, only to bring herself resting on her back right beside the woman.

The crowd roared and cheered for the incredible efforts of both women in this hard hitting, fast paced battle, and a weary smile formed on Julia's tired features as she panted there on the mat. Sure she was glad for the victory. But even more importantly, she was glad she and Haruka had been able to put on an excellent show.

Eventually forcing herself to roll over and slowly pick herself up off the mat, Julia moved to kneel by Haruka, offering a hand to help her up. "Hey…Great match…" she managed to say in between heavy breaths, and with a friendly smile.