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

Not like this.

Kozue didn't like losing, but it had happened to her plenty of times before. She could deal with it. She could accept it. She wasn't some crybaby bitch that needed to be coddled every time she came up empty.

But what she couldn't accept was getting choked out like a chump after about five minutes of fighting to a guy with even fewer wins under her belt than she had. If she was going, she wouldn't go quietly.

Kozue made a desperate push forward, heading towards the turnbuckle. As soon as she was close enough, she brought her legs up and kicked at the corner, trying to drive herself into Nathan with enough forced to make them both tumble. If it worked and she got free, she could start switching things around. If it didn't work and he held on, she'd just get choked out on the ground instead of on her feet. Not much of an improvement, that way.

If Kozue thought that she could escape by knocking Nathan off balance by stepping backwards, she had another thing coming. He’d thought of everything- his stance was wide and his arms secure. Best of all, his chin was a safe distance from her head. There was no way out; even now, he could feel her struggles losing some of their fire.

But Kozue elected to move forward, a contingency that Nathan hadn’t planned for. Why should he have? There was nothing there, only a cage of steel and ropes. But when Kozue kicked out, she reminded Nathan exactly why: because a high-flier like her saw the world in terms of motion and momentum, and there was a hot bundle of potential energy between the post and her powerful little legs.

She pushed; they went tumbling. Nathan’s arms instinctively released the hold so that he could break his fall. “Shoot.” Then they came up again to try and wrap themselves around Kozue’s bare midsection- not in any sort of hold, but more in a primitive grab, something to keep her down with him on the ground while he figured out what to do next. Because Kozue on her feet was turning out to be at least as dangerous as Nathan on his.

As they went flying, it occurred to Kozue that this really wasn't the best of ways she could've handled this. A shoulder toss probably would've been the best option. Maybe a foot stomp to set it up with. A few elbows in his ribs to soften him. But she was getting choked out, she couldn't breath, and that wasn't the best time to weigh her options.

Besides, it worked. Fuck it.

They were down and she wasn't getting the life choked out of her anymore. Vast improvement, yeah, but that didn't mean she was free. Nathan had traded up for a hold around her waist, keeping her close and pinned down. Smart. But it gave her an interesting option.

Kozue sat up like she was trying to escape, and indeed, she was - just not how it appeared. Instead of trying to pull away, she jerked back and tried to slam the back of her head into Nathan's face. Sort of a reverse headbutt, if that was even a thing.

To nobody’s surprise, Kozue was a livewire on the ground, too. He managed to get his arms around her, but she was fighting back, struggling to tear herself away from his grip. When she sat up, Nathan yanked his arms in tighter. Bearhug, he’d decided; he could manage a bearhug.

And it worked! Maybe too well, in fact. Kozue did indeed turn parallel to Nathan. But she did it at such a whizzing speed that her head slammed directly onto Nathan’s nose, setting off the tear ducts in the corners of Nathan's eyes, and fireworks behind them. Once again, his arms fell off of their prey, this time to fly to his aching face. Was he bleeding? No, his hands felt dry. Then why did everything smell like blood? Oh, then yes, he was bleeding. And...there was the warm, sticky feeling on his fingers. For now, the sharp sting in his nose had his entire attention; Nathan rolled gently from left to right while he nursed his face, suddenly apathetic to the consequences of leaving Kozue to her own devices.

Kozue couldn't see the impact, obviously, but she didn't really need to in order to get an idea of how nasty a hit it was. The way the audience recoiled was enough to give her a good idea, not to mention the sound of the impact itself. It was a noise like two coconuts slapping against each other, not at all the kind of thing you wanted to hear from an impact against your nose.

A little dirty, but it worked. Kozue was free and able to breathe, and the first thing on her mind was giving Nathan a taste of what she'd just gone through. Sort of.

She hopped off him and landed right above his head, putting her legs on both sides of his body. Reaching over, Kozue grabbed his hands while they were busy nursing his face, jerked them back, then tried to slide her legs around his neck and lock in a figure-four headscissors. She couldn't squeeze enough with her upperbody to get a rear naked choke that was worth a damn on Nathan, but her thighs were a different story.

Nathan was only aware of when Kozue vacated his chest because he was flooded with a grateful feeling; breathing was hard enough as it was. But that gratitude was short lived; he felt his hands being pulled away from their posts at his nose, right at about the same time that legs slithered around his neck and began to constrict his respiration.

It was here that Nathan finally realized that the headbutt might have been intentional.

His arms came down beneath his chin to try and alleviate the pressure Kozue’s hard (and riverstone smooth) calf muscles were exerting on his arteries… or they would have, if not for Kozue’s foresight and certain grip on his hands. Thus, Nathan’s way forward was obvious; step one to not passing out was to try and free his hands from Kozue’s clutches. With a mighty grunt, Nathan tried to yank his hands away from Kozue, budgeting a precious half of his breath to the attempt.

Many, many hours of crunches and running and hammering away at the machines finally got some fruint, as Kozue snapped on the figure-four and squeezed away at Nathan's head, pouring on the pressure. She had his hands secured, she had it locked tight. It was a good, solid hold, and on someone her own size, it would've been a gauranteed knockout.

But Nathan was not in fact, her size. He was bigger and strong, so when he pulled his arms away from her grip, she didn't have much choice in letting it go. It wasn't that big of a loss, she figured. She was in a superior position behind his head, she was controlling his body. He wouldn't go anywhere she didn't want him to.

"Being difficult." She grunted and grabbed her ankle, pulling on it for added power. "Come on, man. Know you want it to be over. Just lay back, relax, and go to sleep..."

It's not like Nathan didn't see the advantages of Kozue's suggestion; fighting Kozue, who stood half a foot shorter and maybe twenty pounds lighter, was a little like fighting a wildcat on a sugar rush. Every unit of force he delivered was repaid with twice that in ferocity. Even now, with his arms emancipated, he couldn't do much better than an inch or two of brief and desperate space between her leg and his throat. It was enough to keep the blood circulating, but certainly not enough to escape, and not nearly enough to win the fight.

This was good; this was the hardest he'd ever fought. Despite current appearances, Nathan appreciated Kozue's tenacity and adaptability. Not only did it keep him on his toes, it also fostered creativity beyond just punching, bolstering his own evolution as a fighter.

In the meantime, though, Nathan was taking on the appearance of a drowning victim. His eyes bulged, his nose was dribbling blood, and his face was cherry red with effort; not his best moment. Left with no other options, he started to walk his legs toward the ropes, looking to drape an ankle across the bottom one before she'd sapped the rest of his vitality.

Kozue had been so wrapped up in locking the hold and powering down and squeezing Nathan until he was a lifeless husk that she'd almost lost her sense of the environment. She heard the referee's count, but she didn't register what that meant until she was up to four, and raising her hands for the last strike.

"Shit!" She released Nathan's throat from the leggy vise and let him breathe, finally noticing that he'd managed to make the ropes. Bonehead move on her part. Should've worked harder to keep him away, should've started the hold in the center of the ring, should've dug in with her elbows to make a better anchor.

The milk was spilled, though, and Kozue would just have to work with it. She grabbed Nathan by the wrist and stood back up, pulling him back up with her and forcing him to his feet. As soon as he was up, she ducked under him arm, caught him in a wrist lock, then moved behind his back to secure a hammer lock. Slowing the match down a little, but she'd been enjoying some success with this pace in the last minute. Kozue saw no reason to switch it up, now.

When he reached the ropes, he breathed a mental sigh of relief. But when his neck wasn’t immediately released, he bounced his foot off the rope so that the ref could see. Still nothing. What was going on? Was there a loophole? The panic didn’t do his condition any good, and, by the time he finally was released, his head was burning with worry and stale blood. But he did get released, and he was now free to continue his struggle for dominance with Kozue. Yayy.

He began by rolling to the ropes- nope, Kozue had him by the wrist, and was hauling him up to his feet. He obeyed her physical persuasion with a heavy groan, soon replaced by a sharp yelp as she maneuvered herself behind and put him in a hammerlock. He winced in the hold, his shoulder immediately beginning to protest. But he was on his feet, and Kozue was within striking distance; the perfect scenario to seize control.

Nathan started by swinging out with his unfettered arm, hoping to free himself by catching Kozue in the head with an elbow.