A Gamer's Debut: Mariko vs. Mikoto!

Huddled away in her own newly refurbished dressing room, Mikoto's own pre-match preparation ritual took place nowhere near the waist-high mirror, the priestess performing breathing exercises to calm her mind while kneeling against the wall and sitting on her ankles. To her own shame the modestly-sized dressing room was a perk not many in the federation were afforded, recently gifted to her in particular for her semi-celebrity status due to her history with the Wrestle Angels organization as well as a small recompense for her selfless actions during her last match.

It was so deeply traumatic an evening in fact that Mikoto veered away from the stadium and wrestling in general soon after, taking time off to settle her shaken nerves. Thankfully the timely intervention of her closest friend, Suzumi, treating her to a delightful day at the beach was just what the doctor ordered. The sandy excursion cleared her head while introducing her to numerous new acquaintances, including one particularly cute boy...whom Mikoto had to concentrate not to think about right now, shaking her head and resuming her soothing breathing exercises. Her first match since returning from her sabbatical was minutes away and she needed to focus.

A knock at her door startled her from her meditative state, signaling that her entrance theme was impending. Clad in her customized priestess wrestling attire, Mikoto would lift herself up off the floor and stretch her slender back out before stepping outside and towards the blackened curtains at the top of the ramp. The second the guitar riffs of her theme blared through the speakers, Mikoto would brush aside the curtains and unveil herself to the audience, cheering wildly for the priestess to her own stark surprise. The priestess would be compelled to pause briefly on the top of the ramp and take some time to receive the warm accolades, wide-eyed from the reception at having gained some new fans since her absence due to her heroic actions that night against Hibiki Izayoi. She always had a solid fan base before, but now she was getting applause on a level she had never received...

After a few seconds of reflection Mikoto would stride down the ramp meekly smiling and waving to the crowd, not quite knowing how to react to the sudden new-found adoration. After climbing up the stairs into the ring and reeling from the buzz of being the latest fan favorite, Mikoto would briefly size up her opponent and was taken aback by Mariko's glowing yellow eyes and marine blue flowing hair. Certainly more eye-catching than the priestess' more typical appearance. Still, slight pangs of jealously aside, Mariko seemed pleasant enough from first impressions alone...

"H-Hey, Mariko-san, was it?...Welcome to AFW, it can be overwhelming at first, but with time you'll settle in no time...Oh, and I love your hair~...But you know, when they told me who I'd be facing, all they could give me was a name, so I'm afraid I don't know much about you aside from that..." Miko shyly stated before approaching Mariko with a chipper smile and an extended hand, unaware that Mariko was in fact simply a clever alias...

Mikoto graciously smiled and nodded throughout their initial handshake...inwardly knowing full well that Mariko was not being entirely truthful about her background. Acting as a surrogate den mother to several rambunctious siblings most of your life tends to give you a developed radar towards childish fibs. Nevertheless...the priestess greeted her as warmly as she could, still harboring some envious feelings towards Mariko's radiant hair and eyes inwardly wishing she was bold enough to experiment with her own looks.

Though her own expression darkened as Mariko apparently justified Miko's earlier suspicions about something being off about this girl. After the gamer girl outright confessed her true intentions in an utterly narcissistic fashion, the priestess had to take a step back while the gamer girl back flipped across the ring to the scattered applause of a few spectators. Mikoto was honestly taken aback at the arrogance of her opponent and how obnoxiously forthright she was with predicting her demise. Her opinion of Mariko quickly diminished as a result.

"...Well Mariko-san, congratulations. You certainly have the theatricality of this business down pat." Mikoto stated coldly, reacting nonchalantly towards Mariko's gymnastic feat as she brushed one of her bangs of hair out of her eye sight. "Being a shrine maiden means steeling your resolve and maintaining your composure when facing down irritable apparitions...and I see no reason why this should be any different. I don't intend to be so easily overcome, Mariko-san. There's a reason I was given the moniker "Indomitable"..." Mikoto raised her arms in a widened judo stance with her knees slightly bent as she glared towards the loud-mouthed gamer girl. Not since her Wrestle Angel days has Mikoto has been pitted against someone she so sincerely felt compelled to defeat.

Once the bell rang signaling the beginning of the match, Mikoto took a deep breath to settle her irritated nerves and cautiously approached Mariko with concentrated steps and footwork. From the gamer girl's fighting posture and her earlier, admittedly impressive back flip, Mikoto surmised that Mariko may have some skill to back up her threats. As the priestess inched toward Mari she would offer arms for an amicable lock up, intending to put them both on the same level, eye to eye and face to face...

Mikoto knew that eventually she would be pitted against a thoroughly obnoxious opponent with a chip on her shoulder, the locker room was filled to the brim with up and coming rookies who felt they could steamroll their way up the rankings with little to no effort on their part. And it was always up to the more experienced wrestlers to set them straight and thoroughly educate them on the folly of their ways...it just felt strange that she would actually be in that role someday...

The priestess cautiously approached the spring-footed Mariko with a concentrated glare towards the gamer-girl and her posture. Studying her opponent's bouncing movements and nimble footwork, Miko only just barely recognized the fighting stance as taekwondo before she quickily sidestepped the rapid snapkick. Mikoto widened her eyes at the swiftness of the strike, hearing the whizzing sound of the kick barely grazing her ear. But after whiffing on the strike, with the priestess so close to Mari, Mikoto instinctively recognized an opening and attempted to capitalize.

"Hyaah!!" After stepping inward towards Mari and bending low to dig her shoulder into the gamer girl's abdomen, Mikoto would wrap her arms around Mari's lethal legs to clutch the back of her thighs. With her grip synched in Mikoto would attempt to scoop Mari off her feet and drop her back first to the mat in a practiced double leg judo takedown, still holding her legs and kneeling in front if all goes as planned.

Heaving Mariko off her feet and back down to the mat was as fluid a motion Mikoto could have managed considering she was coming off nearly getting her face kicked in. Her heart was still racing from how close she came to starting off the match on her back, much like Mariko was now.

After implementing the judo take down Mikoto instantly recognized that she was in a prime position to start putting the pressure on Mariko with a plethora of leg submission techniques, ones that would that would truly hamper the offense of the gamer girl and her kick based attacks. Releasing her other leg but with Mari's right ankle firmly tucked away in Miko's armpit, the priestess would stand tall over the irate gamer girl with a cool, poised, almost emotionless demeanor in contrast to Mari's angered glare and rhetoric.

"You can't honestly be complaining about the pain already, Mariko-san..." Mikoto uttered unsympathetically before cinching in her lock on the ankle by flexing her bicep and clasping her hands together. The priestess would lean back and in doing so heft Mari upward as well until only her upper back touched the canvas, the gamer girls' ankle under renewed strain now that it was forced to support Mari's entire weight lifted off the mat, a rudimentary but efficient judo ankle lock.

Mikoto groaned in exertion from heaving Mariko upward until she was dangling upside down by her captured ankle, but the priestess retained her stoic composure throughout her implementation of the rather basic ankle lock. The strain would be considerable but nowhere near enough to illicit any submissions so early in the match. Instead intended to work over Mariko's ankle before seamlessly transitioning to a more agonizing maneuver that would be even more potent on Mari's trapped limb.

It was plain to see that Mariko's frustration was bubbling over at this point, hanging upside down not being an entirely flattering position for someone as stubbornly prideful as she was. Her struggles to alleviate the pressure on her ankle by lifting herself up and attempts to reach out towards the ensnared limb was Mikoto's signal to shift over to her next maneuver before the gamer girl could squirm her way free.

"Settle down, or you're only gonna make this more painful than it has to be.." Miko advised before laying in one kick to the back of her opponents thigh to settle down her resistance. Mikoto would use the grasp on to Mariko's leg to turn them both over until Mari was laying down on the canvas. From there the next maneuver could be easily predicted, Miko sitting her backside on Mari's lower back and rearing back gradually in a single leg boston crab submission. A splattering of applause showed the audience's appreciation for the efficiency of Miko's fighting style, with the priestess more concerned with working over Mari and showing her she wasn't to be taken lightly...