Makie Akamatsu vs. Armando 'Army' Rodriguez - Let's You and Him Fight, Part 2

There was still some daylight left when Army arrived at the Tension arena, hopping off the the bus with his gym bag slung over his shoulder. He was dressed in his regular street clothes - jeans, black boots, and his Punisher t-shirt that still had a little of his girlfriend's scent left on it. Underneath, though, he was dressed in his wrestling attire. Tonight, he had a match.

He made his way into the parking lot, weaving through the steadily growing sea of cars, slowly filtering in to catch the show. Not one of the biggest crowds ever, but still, way more than he ever got as a boxer. It was hard to process - people actually watched his matches. On television. He wasn't just some random boxer doing matches in dimly lit rookie rings, he was worldwide, night after night.

It was more than a little humbling for a small-time punch monkey from a small-town. But that was why he liked to get to the arena early. Gave him a little moment to cool down before he heated up. Take in the situation.

Army grabbed a turkey sub from one of the vendors and set up shop at a lonely table in the corner if the cafeteria, trying to get a moment for research on his opponent. Makie Akamatsu. That last name was one Carmen had thrown his way more than three months, ever since she finished her match with Kyo. She was impressed by the guy. Ridiculously impressed. So impressed that Army almost questioned her sexuality at times. Going on about how professional he was and how serious of a competitor he had been and how much her little brother could've learned from the guy about wrestling if he'd paid attention.

Army, honestly, did not give a shit. Yeah, the guy was good, but he had his own style and he was doing a good job of developing. He hadn't won pretty much all of last year, but this one had gone well so far, and he planned on keeping the  streak for as long as he could manage.

But someone was interested in Carmen's match up, because that someone set him up with a companion to it. Apparently, they were trying to milk some kind of fued. Nothing he had any interest in - a fight was just that. A fight. The last name didn't matter.

He took a large bite out of the sub and turned on his phone, doing a quick search on Youtube and finding the match Makie had at Showdown with John Mitchell. Couldn't hurt to get a quick peek at who he was dealing with...

Not long till my next fight, Makie thought to herself as she stepped through the doors of the arena. The fans, thankfully, didn't recognize her as easily outside of her ring attire-- at the moment, she was just wearing a simple yellow blouse and blue denim shorts, along with a matching denim jacket. In all honesty, she shouldn't have been this nervous-- she had fought tough guys before, and while she'd had her fair share of wins and losses, she was also never afraid to take on opponents who were bigger and tougher than her most of the time. So she had no idea why she was so apprehensive about this upcoming match.

Maybe it was his fighting style. From what she knew, this Armando Rodriguez guy was a fistfighter by trade, not a generalist powerhouse like most of the guys she had fought against. This in and of itself gave her reason to pause: she had never before fought a guy who relied so much on striking power, and by the sounds of things, Army packed a mean punch. Then there was also the fact that there was apparently a personal stake in this, since Army's sister had recently lost to Kyo. Makie had seen the match, and thought that Carmen Rodriguez had put up an awesome fight, but she had no idea how Army might react to seeing his sister defeated. If he was anything like Kyo, he'd probably take it in stride. If he was anything like Toshio...he wouldn't take it well at all.

She sighed. This was all so stupid. Gimmick matches like this between groups of siblings were so dumb and tasteless, only meant to generate fan buzz and nothing else. Honestly, she would have settled for any run of the mill random bout instead of a tasteless gimmick match like this.

As she stepped though the doors of the main concourse, she realized that she was still a little hungry. She still had plenty of time before the match, so she stepped up one of the fast food vendors, ordered herself a burger, fries and soft drink, and found an isolated table to sit down at.

She didn't have too much to worry about, she told herself. Army's losses seemed to outnumber his wins. True, his last defeat had technically been to someone stronger than him, but she had nothing to worry about. Nothing at all...

Army continued to watch the match on his phone, checking the screen as John waged war on Makie. He would say this much for the little Akamatsu sibling - the girl was tough. As a boxer and a brother to a ladyboxer, he'd known plenty of tough women in his day, and this one was on par with some of the hardest. She just would not stay down. Sure, it was for a belt, so he got why she'd be so determined. But all the same, it was on a crazy level.

He was taking in some of her moves and trying to get a feel for her style when a flash of yellow caught his eye. Just another wrestler catching a bite to eat, nothing to pay much attention to...until his eyes started to linger. There was something about the way she moved, that hair, that body. All so familiar. He looked up, spotted her, then checked his phone again to be sure.

Yeah. That was Makie Akamatsu.

Army was tempted to just avoid her, not say anything, but he shuffled that notion away. She seemed like a nice enough girl, so far as he could tell. Sure, they'd be bashing each others' head in soon, but now there was no reason not to be friendly.  "Hey, yo!" He called out her way and waved, trying to get a smile that wasn't too creepy. "Makie, right?"

Quietly, Makie leaned back on her chair and started munching on her fries, enjoying the brief moment of quiet. True, a food court wasn't exactly the best place to find solace, but it was something. She just wanted to sit back, relax, and clear her mind before the big match. He's just a dumb boxer Makie, his bark is probably worse than his bite, she told herself.

Sighing, she brushed some of her hair back from her forehead. Honestly, even if she beat this guy, she knew that the managers would try to spin this stupid soap opera further. They might have both Armando and his sister teaming up against her and Kyo in a tag match, and trying to drag this whole thing out as far as possible. It was dumb, it was ridiculous, and it was...

She paused. She heard something in the background. A recording of....of what sounded like a match...

"...and John Mitchel locks in a boston crab!"

"Makie Akamatsu in trouble now...Mitchell is really testing her flexibility...Makie's back can't be feeling that great after that kick to her side..."

"Makie's holding on...twisting...REVERSAL BY MAKIE AKAMATSU! She's got him in a figure four!"

"John Mitchell is feeling the pain now! Makie Akamatsu has got him, and she is not letting go!"

The colour drained from Makie's face. That was her match! And not just any match-- that was her from her title bout against John Mitchell!

She spun around and saw that, sure enough, someone was watching the match on their smartphone. And that "someone" was looking at her.

"Hey yo!" he called out, smiling at her. "Makie, right?"

He seemed familiar-- he was tall, broad, obviously Latin American, judging by his skin tone and accent. But it was that face of his that stood out as the most famiiar. And in an instant, she knew what.

"Wha...you?!!" she sputtered. "You're...Armando Rodriguez! What the hell are you doing here?"

Now that he could see Makie in person and up close, he could get a good read on where she was currently at, body-wise. She was not the biggest girl he'd ever faced by a large margin, but Hana had set that bar so high that he doubted anyone would reach it anytime soon. As it was, she looked like she was in great shape. A good all-around athlete that could give him a solid brawl. Something to look forward to.

She seemed a little surprised to see him, though. "Well," He sat back and gestured at his meal. "I'm pretty sure I'm doing more than or less what you're doing. Catching a bite to eat. Turkey sub. Lettuce, tomato, olives, some pepper for a kick. Mustard, no mayo. Keeping it light, watching the weight. On a whole wheat bun. Very tasty."

Army sat forward and looked back up at her, holding a serious face for a moment before he let it go and smirked. "I'm just fucking with you. Come on, sit down, we can talk a bit."

He reached over and hit a pause on the match, right after Makie was doing a little taunting.

"Better tap out, bitch! This is no DQ, so I can break your damn leg here if I want!"

He raised an eyebrow at that. Girl had a bit of a mean streak. He'd have to watch out for that.

For a moment, Makie stared warily at Army. He didn't seem like the sort of guy to pull any funny stuff, especially before a match, and he seemed genuinely friendly. The fact that he was easy on the eyes wasn't so bad either. On the other hand, it felt odd for him to be so chummy with someone who would be clobbering his brains out before long.

On the other hand...if Makie was honest herself, she didn't have any ill will towards Army or that sister of his. This entire match was just a dumb set up, nothing more, so she figured it wouldn't hurt to get to know the guy first.

She shrugged, and shifted her seat. "Sure, why not." Sitting down next to Army, she crossed a leg and glanced at his smartphone. "So was this a chance meeting? If so, then its a little weird seeing you watching my last title match at this very moment." On the phone, she saw herself being put in a crippling crossface by John Mitchell...just before escaping by raking the boy's eyes. It still burned that she had lost her title shot, but it had still been a fantastic match.

Yeah, why not? It wasn't like Army and Makie had to be bitter rivals or anything. They could get on like reasonable, intelligent adults who were going to be beating each other shitless in a couple hours.

"Stranger shit's happened." He shrugged and scooted over a bit to give her extra room on the seat. "You work here, I work here, we have a match, and we both need to eat food at some point. Decent odds. And as for this..."

He gestured at the phone, right as  Makie was squeaking her way out of a nasty hold. Fiesty. He'd have to look out for that. "Just a little research, I guess. Seeing what you'll be bringing to the fight, prepping up, nothing crazy. You really went crazy on Big John." He gave the phone a quick tap and took a bite out of the sandwich. "I mean, I know it was for the title, but damn."

Makie raised an eyebrow at Army's comment. In retrospect, maybe she had been a little too intense in the ring with John, though he had been able to take it and give back even more. She shrugged. "As you said, it was for the title," she replied. "And it was no DQ, so I wasn't exactly restricted to playing nice. Besides, John was a tough guy, he was able to take whatever I dished out on him." She winced as, at that point, the recording of their match showed John catching her in her attempted moonsault and slamming her brutally into the mat. "He didn't exactly pull his punches either."

She turned back to Army and gave him a mischievous smile. "Aww, are you scared that I'm going to rough you up too badly in the ring? I promise, I'll be gentle-ish."

Army jumped a bit when he saw John land that slam after her moonsault. He'd met the former champ a few times when he hung out with Ro, a friend they shared. Easy going guy. Very thoughtful, very nice, wouldn't hurt a fly...unless that fly was in the ring. He'd lost the title over some bullshit, and it had been easy to forget what a force he could be. Not after watching a match like this, though.

"Ouch, damn. See what you mean. I think he left an imprint on the mat, that time." He straightened back up and turned her way, mirroring her own smile. "And I think you're confusing me with the 2014 model of Armando Rodriguez, the one that lost all the time. He might've been a little intimidated, but see, me?I'm the 2015 version. Three matches, going strong, looking to make a two-streak into a three-streak." He held up his fingers for a visual aid. "But don't worry - my sister went easy on Kyo. I'll go easy on you."

Maybe that's why she lost, Makie wanted to say, but she kept quiet. She'd seen the match, and knew that Carmen had come close quite a few times to knocking Kyo out. She knew that Kyo had come out of that match with a healthy respect for the Latina fistfighter...and if Carmen hadn't been batting for the other team, she'd even have gone so far as to say that Kyo was smitten by her. Then again, poor, chivalrous Kyo was easily smitten.

"Pffft, liar. Your sister nearly KO'd Kyo several times," Makie chuckled. "I'm serious, you should have seen how swollen his face was afterwards. He looked like an escape from the freak show." She munched on one of her fries. "Can't say I've seen any of your matches, though. I've just heard things here and there." Her grin widened. "Like how your last match was against a bigger girl. I bet that was fun."