Nathan Weed vs. Kozue Kaburagi - First Strike: Standard Match

Match Type: Standard
Victory Conditions: Pinfall, Submission, or Knockout


Back in action. Finally.

Kozue waited in the back for her cue, doing a few light stretches and gargling water. Decked out in her usual attire, sexy ninja garb, looking cute and pretty. This match would be the first normal, solo thing she'd done in a good, long while. And, if she won it, it would be the first straight up victory she'd had in a good, long while.

Yeah, it had been a year of long, hard disappointments in the New Year for Kozue Kaburagi. Professioanlly, anyway. First, she took on Kent Quick...and lost. Then she was offered a title shot, which she turned down to help Johnny and Clyde fight King's Crew...and she lost that, too. Granted, that last loss wasn't her fault, but it did nothing to erase the fact that her team had a three-to-two advantage and still couldn't get the job done.

That sucked. That sucked hard.

But whatever. Okay. She'd had a bad string . No big deal. It happens. If there was ever a time to turn it around, it was now - taking on Nathan Weed, a guy who didn't even have a straight win in the ring.

She could do this. She could handle this shit.

Her music played and she came out to a nice pop, getting waves and cheers from her fans. It wasn't an uproar, nowhere near what she got for her showdown at Showdown. But there's was still some support. She was new, she was fresh, she smiled at them and gave high-fives and signed autographs. Add onto to that the way the crowd was still harping on Nathan for some crap that happened months ago, and she was the one they seemed to be backing tonight.

Kozue came out and threw the devil horns at the audience on her way down to the ring, skipping and spinning all the way down to the ring. She rolled under the bottom ropes and made her way to the corner, then leaned up against the turnbuckle. "All right, Mr. Weed." She leaned forward and put her hands on her knees, more than antsy to get some real action started.

While running errands earlier today, Nathan was accosted by a group of young adults. “Fuck the Valkyries!” the mix of young men and women had shouted in unison before hurrying on down the street, laughing. Nathan had paused, confused. Yes, fuck the Valkyries, he was in complete agreement. Granted, the match that had set things off was over two months old now, but my god. Did they even remember why they were booing him any more?

So the heckles that greeted him on his way down the ramp were received with a little more apprehension than usual tonight. Did they boo him they had seen what he had done, or did they boo him because he was a man to be booed; a Bad Guy? What if new fans were simply parroting the old, and there was a whole generation of audience members who just accepted that Booing Nathan Weed was a Thing that was Done? Not that he cared all that much, but, if he were going to be the object of everyone’s contempt (Nathan thought, annoyed), he’d like to at least deserve it.

Something big jumped suddenly into his vision, and he was startled out of his thoughts. Oh; the ring. He turned around; the ramp was long behind him. Embarrassed, he started his climb up the steel steps, chiding himself all the way. Focus; you’re being rude by not giving your opponent your full attention. Nathan ducked into the ring, where he saw a… a ninja studying his entrance from a corner. Okay.

“Sorry. I mean-” He began, then stopped. She wouldn’t know why he was apologizing. He took a moment to breathe, then gave a curt upnod her way. “Hey.”

And there was Kozue's dance partner for the evening, making his way down to the ring to a less-than-welcoming reception from the crowd. Sliding in under the ropes, giving her the whole 'I'm fighting a ninja in booty pants?' look. Time for a Sherlock.

Little short of six feet tall. Decent build, not quite as bulky as Johnny or John. Stronger than her, but then again, pretty much every guy on the roster was. A little shy from the sound of it, too - might be cheap, but she could work that to her advantage. For now, though, she'd play nice. The audience was razzling him, but that wasn't a good enough reason for her to join in by itself.

"Hey." She pushed out of the corner, a little smirk on her face, and walked his way with a casual stroll. Just another day in the park."So. My name is Kozue Kaburagi. And I know your name, but I think this is the part where you're supposed to tell me anyway because, you know...customs and everything, right?"

“Hi, Kozue.” The mouth moved a lot in those three syllables. “Nathan.” "Kozue Kaburagi" wouldn’t have been Nathan’s first guess for the decidedly un-Japanese-looking girl in front of him; must be a ring name.

Nathan stretched out his shoulders and did a little assessment of his own. Nathan had the advantage here in weight, reach, and undoubtedly strength; actually, his advantage in those categories might best be described as dominant. But it seemed that no one had bothered to tell Kozue, who sauntered leisurely to the center of the ring like it was the weekend. That just meant that Kozue had confidence enough in her other traits to not be cowed by her bigger opponent. His eyes trailed over the parts of her that weren’t covered by her scant-adjacent ring attire; her arms, shoulders, and thighs, relaxed though they were, were clearly put together from muscles of considerable definition. Kozue had put in the work; no one could doubt that she had the athleticism. She was probably quick and dirty, and he would have to watch out for high flying moves, too; he doubted that the girl with the ninja gimmick would be coming at him with power moves and submission holds.

He gave his shoulders a few rolls, then moved to meet Kozue in the center of the ring. "Nice to meet you." He put out a hand, then gave a slight nod toward it. "Custom."

Kozue stared at his hand for a moment, then reached out and grabbed it. Not for a shake, exactly - she balled his fingers up into a fist, then stepped back and gave him a bump with her own. "Much better."

There were some snickers in the audience, but Kozue wasn't trying to make fun of him or anything. Yeah, she liked to joke around a little, but that was all in good fun. It wasn't like Nathan had done anything to her that warranted getting nasty, so why start at that level?

"Take it easy, Nate." Kozue bounched back and moved into her grapping stance. Hands up and open, feet shifting, legs slightly bent, ready to pounce. "Try hard enough and you might have a little fun with this."

She gave him a quick wink before the bell rang, and then she immediately moved in action. She came at him fast with her arms wide open, looking like she was going to go for a traditional collar-and-elbow tie-up. That would have been extremely stupid, which is why she only did it for a fient - instead, she ducked down at the last moment and tried to throw a quick right cross to Nathan's chest.

Nathan had an unexpected smile on his face when he pulled his now-fist back. That was cute. That was funny. His facial expression settled, though, once Kozue assumed her stance. Nathan mirrored her position, hunched down low, hands out and forward, eyes on the prize. Fight time.

As expected, Kozue was quick. When the bell rang, she was after him like a shot, hands up and on a direct line to lock-up. He charged forward too; Kozue wouldn’t be as strong as Abbey, who Nathan, on principle, spent most of his time avoiding grappling with. But he wasn’t interested in grappling with Kozue, either. The plan was to step forward with his right foot and throw a hook into Kozue’s side- it had worked wonders against Abbey.

Unfortunately, Kozue had a similar idea. More unfortunate still, she could execute her plan faster than Nathan could. Kozue ducked under his punch- strands from her ponytail kissed his fist on her way down- and followed through with a punishing little straight at his left pectoral muscle. He grunted from the sting but adjusted accordingly. He pulled his left arm into his torso, then threw a right cross of his own at her head's new position.

Kozue only noticed Nathan's punch after she'd landed one of her own - just by the way she'd juked it, it happened to sail right over her head and see every crisp, professional motion of it. Lucky. Extremely lucky, since she could feel the air from his blow blasting over his face. There was a lot of power in those fists, and they were the last thing she wanted exploding across her face, especially this early in the match.

She reeled back for another punch when she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye - another punch. A right cross of his own, and it was coming far earlier than she'd gambled on. Right towards her face.

Nathan seemed like a straight enough edge, but he took and threw punches like he'd been doing it all his life, a fact Kozue learned firsthand. The fist she'd meant for offense was used for defense instead, as she just managed to get her forearm up in time to block the blow. If you could even called it a block - his punch didn't hit her face directly, but her arm didn't seem to dull the impact all that much, and she still wound up staggering back from the hit.

As much as Nathan liked boxing, he was a realist, and he would readily admit that wrestling was the far more flexible combat sport. When he used to get opponents into similar situations in the past, the procedure was clear, and he hardly had to think to keep on the pressure. Once he became a pro-wrestler, however, he could find himself on the receiving end of a shoulder tackle or a lock-up, counters he’d never think to expect in a boxing ring.

So seeing his opponent stumble from his attack was a long-forgotten, near-foreign sight at first. But instincts are hard to suppress; while his brain was still working out the details, his body moved on its own, stepping forward and throwing a left jab up high, and a right uppercut down low into Kozue’s toned abs.

If Kozue was looking for confirmation that Nathan knew how to hit, she couldn't have asked for a better demonstration. The sore spot on the side of her face was more than enough testimony for anyone.

She was impressed, but she knew she had to keep her guard up and be wary - this guy was fast, and he was smart enough to press his advantage. As soon as she got her bearings back, she found herself dodging a swift jab aimed right at her face, whiffing past her nose as she backpeddled. She didn't backpeddle fast enough to avoid the second blow, though -  a nice, neat, compact little uppercut, right to her breadbasket.

She gagged at the blow and start to bend forward, but she didn't recoil or move away. Instead, she tried to grab Nathan's arm before he could pull it away, get a solid grip with both hands, then fall back and send him flying with an arm drag. Maybe if Kozue could focus on getting him off his feet, she coud start working a little magic.

Nathan caught on to what his body was up to right about when he buried his fist into Kozue’s stomach. He made a move to exploit the advantage with a throw, but he found that one of his arms was MIA- Kozue was holding onto his punch. Ridiculous.

Then she started to pull back on it, and what could Nathan do but resist? Kozue looked and felt like she weighed hardly anything at all, and he had every confidence that he could keep his feet. Then she threw her whole body weight into the drag. Nathan’s initial resistance worked against him; when he lost balance, it acted as a drawn slingshot, sending him flying head over heels before he crash landed on his back. He popped up from the impact, settled back down with a groan, then started his way back up to his feet, beginning by getting onto all fours.