Winds Of Change

"I'm not stubborn, I'm just not ready to quit like everyone wants me t... AARGH!" Suzumi shouted as she got caught up in a quick but expertly applied boston crab! Suzumi began to try to crawl towards the ropes. They weren't that far away, but Mikoto was really cranking down on her! As much as it hurt, the fact that Mikoto was taking this seriously was oddly comforting to Suzumi. All Suzumi had to do was show Mikoto that she was still good enough to wrestle. That's easy...... right?

Suzumi felt good, like she could get to the ropes, like she could take the fight to Mikoto. However, that nagging little voice in the back of her head, the one that had been there since she decided to come back to wrestling made itself known. "What if you can't do it? What if you aren't good enough for the big time anymore?" Suzumi shook her head, doing all she could to focus on dragging herself to the nearby ropes, reaching out to grab on!

Turning Suzu over to her front side to properly cinch in the torturous boston crab didn't come without a concerted groan of effort, especially considering that the priestess was just starting to feel the pressure from the toned thighs clamping down on her waist. Luckily Miko's quick thinking reversed their situations before the Tsunami could make her regret going for Suzu's legs in the first place.

After tucking Suzu's ankles firmly in the crooks of her arms, Miko methodically reared back from atop her seated position on her opponent's curved lower back. The agonized yells from her future tag partner were confirmation that she was implementing it as viciously as it needed to be to earn herself a submission victory, but Miko couldn't help but wince her eyes shut from overhearing the unsettling sounds.  The desperate crawl to the ropes wouldn't go unnoticed by Miko as she felt herself stepping backward to go along with the reversing motion. Looking over shoulder her to confirm that Suzu was now grasping onto the bottom rope for dear life, Miko would immediately relinquish the hold and gently place her friends' stretched out legs on the mat.

"Everyone isn't rooting for you to fail, Suzu..." Miko would gently utter under her breath so no one else in the gym could hear her, a concerned look on her face as she stepped to her friends side and offered a helping hand back to her feet.

Suzumi was happy to be free but was expecting a follow up attack.... not a helping hand. "W-what the hell?! In a real match you can't just stop and help me up! Like, do you just think you can just beat me without trying?" Suzumi challenged as she got up under her own power, leaving Mikoto hanging!

Mikoto's insinuation hurt Suzumi more than sords could express. It was like she was so lowly she wasn't worth a full effort anymore.

"Wha?!..N-No, I jus..." Mikoto balked at the sudden and shocking turn of character for Suzu, taking a step back with a wounded expression on her face. It was like the bubbly, eternally chipper best friend she had come to know over all these years was slowly eroding into this spiteful grouch, blinded by her own stubborn pride.

"...fine...fine, Suzu. If that's how you want it, then fine. I'll come at you with everything I've got..." Miko would backtrack to the middle of the ring with a calm and reserved tone to her voice, a renewed look of sheer determination on her face as she resumed her grappling stance with her arms extended and legs slightly bent. "Just...please don't take this too seriously..."

Suzumi got to her feet, and mirrored Minot's grapple stance. "Good, I am ready when you are." Suzumi said simply, if not sternly. She was now a far cry from her usual self, and she was barely aware of how different she sounded. She loved Mikoto like a sister, which is probably why Mikoto trying to help Suzumi up when Suzumi wanted a true test of herself was like a dagger through the heart.

Suzumi moved forward, trying to engage Mikoto in a grapple! Suzumi was doing her best to focus on this spar and nothing else. She had to be at her absolute best to show the smart, fast and talented Mikoto that she was still someone not to take lightly inside the ring. Pride could be a good and bad thing. It helped motivate Suzumi, keeping her going. However, it also seemed to change her and as she refused to admit that her old injury changed her physically, she also seemed to change mentally. The air headed cheerleader and eternal optimist appeared to be more of a spiteful old crone who refused to let go of her glory days.

None of that stopped Suzumi from grappling with Mikoto, doing all she could to push her friend back!

The night and day transformation of her normally jovial best friend into this stone-faced and downright bitter competitor finally clued Miko in to the deadly seriousness in which Suzu was taking this training bout. This was an ugly side to Suzu that had been noticeably festering within her for sometime. First unveiling itself during their otherwise pleasant beach vacation and once again after her match with Riyu Kikuchi, both times when in the presence of Chris Morgan and her cold truth. Though now that they were alone, Mikoto saw this as an opportunity to finally confront Suzu about these pent up emotions...even if it meant wrestling her down to the mat and making her tap first...

Steeling her toned frame in admittedly nervous anticipation for Suzu's approach, Miko reciprocated with a collar and elbow tie-up in the middle of the ring. A grappling position she had engaged with Suzumi hundreds of times with, enough that it was practically muscle memory by this point. With one hand tightly fastened on the back of each others neck as they jockeyed for position, Mikoto winced as she briefly buckled down to one knee before straightening herself back up again from the amount of strength Suzu was bringing to the table. Suzu's heftier physique gave her the obvious edge in the clinching hold, but it was where Miko needed to be in order for her plan to work.

In as swift and seamless transition she could make, Miko would twist in place and lower her grip from Suzu's neck to the back of her waist. By tugging on Suzu's arm and counter-balancing her opponent's forward momentum, Miko would attempt an O goshi judo hip throw that if successful would flip the Tsunami over head to land flat on her backside with the priestess standing overhead and still clenching her arm as well.

Suzumi was so focused on her own anger that Mikoto's fast move caught her totally off guard! Suzumi was flipped over, landing on her butt with Mikoto still holding onto her arm! "Argh.. shit!" Suzumi cursed as she tried to get up, but found it very difficult to do with Mikoto holding onto her arm! This start wasn't quite what Suzumi envisioned especially since her debut was a win over Mikoto. Mikoto always nagging her to take it easy.... Chris Morgan's all high and mighty stare looking down at her telling her she was done.... everything seemed to permeate Suzumi's thoughts as she narrowed her eyes, looking up at Mikoto.

Suzumi tried to orient herself to a position where she could work her way to a standing position, not worried about freeing her arm yet. Suzumi was as good as Mikoto, and she could get out of this! Suzumi wasn't in great position, but if Mikoto held onto her arm, she was also within striking range. "You are going to regret that one!" Suzumi shouted as she tried to lash out with a side kick right into Mikoto's abdomen!

Approaching Miko with such reckless abandon only made Suzu even more susceptible to the extensive knowledge of judo hip throws the priestess was practically raised up on. The sheer strength but lack of proper footwork or technique in their clinching lockup signaled to Miko that all of Suzu's misplaced anger was clouding her judgment. And against a judo practitioner who specializes in using your opponent's own momentum against you to gain the upper hand, it was as if the Tsunami was only setting herself up to fail.

The spiteful glare in Suzumi's eyes was a familar expression Mikoto had seen time and time again from those who had just been summarily tossed around by one of her hip throws. Mostly stemming from an inherit embarrassment from being swept off their feet by the unassuming and withdrawn priestess. It was the exact same look of frustration that Mariko shot toward Miko in their own match, and like before, the priestess would remain poised and collected with a nigh emotionless demeanor. Treating the match with the seriousness in which Suzu herself stubbornly requested.

"Hnngh..." Mikoto reaffirmed her steadfast grip on Suzu's arm as she startled the priestess with how quickily she ascended back to a vertical position, walking along with her on the canvas and tugging on her arm before the punt to her abs made her hunch over in gasping pain. The reverberating smack of Suzu's shin colliding into her stomach briefly loosened the grip on Suzu's arm, but not for long. The priestess would grit her teeth and soldier through the pain. Practically digging her nails into the trapped appendage before sprinting behind Suzu to bend the arm in between her shoulder blades in a hammerlock.

"The only thing I'm regretting...is allowing things to get this far..." Mikoto uttered against her opponents broad shoulder while she twisted the arm up against Suzu's back, balancing herself on the tips of her toes in the contorted angling of the arm.

Suzumi grit her teeth as her kick failed and Mikoto locked in a hard hammerlock! Suzumi was getting frustrated as Mikoto didn't relent or slow down at Suzumi's attempts to free herself. "Let. Go. Now!" Suzumi shouted as she stepped out and tried to get away from Mikoto, straightening out her arm. Suzumi would reach out with her free arm to grab Mikoto and try to spin behind Mikoto to reverse the hammerlock!

Suzumi was silent as she zeroed in on her friend. Her friend who didn't think that Suzumi belonged inside the ring. Her friend who thought Suzumi was washed up. All of this made Suzumi hurt worse than the hammerlock and judo toss had. It was like her mind was stuck in a submission hold where tapping out and rope breaks didn't exist. She was stuck, stuck in a shell of her old self in the ring. Suzumi shook her head, trying to dismiss the doubts others had in her. She couldn't doubt herself or all was lost in the ring.

Mikoto may have seemed unfazed by Suzu's sidekick, but in truth the throbbing pain in her aching midsection was still in the back of her mind as she applied the arm wrenching hammerlock. In any other match, a kick with that much force behind it would have had the priestess recoiling to her own corner. But although this was technically a mere training bout, she knew there was more at stake here than just a warm-up exercise. Miko needed to dig deep and overcome her old mentor if they were both going to confront Suzu's demons, the priestess somewhat of an expert at exorcising troublesome apparitions...

The swiftness by which Suzu countered the hammerlock initially took Miko off her game, scrunching her face from the twisting pressure on her elbow and shoulder joints. Even in her anger fueled state the Tsunami was still demonstrating herself to be a skilled expert at the fundamentals of countering and escaping basic holds...but thanks to her friends tutelage, Miko was no slouch when it came to doing just the same.

Tapping her strained shoulder with her free hand to alleviate the tension there, the priestess would mimic Suzu's steps towards countering the hammerlock in the exact same fashion. Perhaps even faster given her lighter frame. Stepping away and straightening Suzu's arm, the priestess would instead step to Suzu's side clasp her grip on Suzu's wrist and twist her arm to the side in a textbook arm wringer. The priestess applying enough pressure to force her friend into a hunched over position.

"Escaping a hammerlock...was one of the first maneuvers you taught me...remember?" Miko uttered in between calming pants, feeling a sense of pride in herself from reasserting control over Suzu and the match in general.