Mitsuru 'Izanami' Satou vs. Armando 'Army' Rodriguez - It Takes Two

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

Continued from here…

Army peeled his shirt off and tossed it out to the fans as Mitsuru’s boys tucked their tails and made their way to the back - now it was just him, her and a referee, who was currently making her way into the ring to start things off properly.

Army was still feeling pretty confident, even with all of Mitsuru’s grandstanding. He didn’t underestimate women - he’d been beaten by them too many times to do that - but the girls who’d beaten him before were made of harder looking stuff than this one. Mitsuru looked like she’d be more at home in the mall, handing out perfume samples. A wrestling ring? Couldn’t see it.

He started to get ready, bouncing on his heels, when a better idea for how to start this match occurred to him. He made his way over to the side of the ring and sat down on the middle rope while he pushed the top one up, opening the way for Mitsuru. Gentleman's style. "Just you and me."

After Mitsuru handed her coat off to her teammates and they headed off back stage, the two wrestlers left shared a short but intense staredown. Army stripped off his shirt and tossed it away to the crowd, cueing her to finally make her way down to the ring. She flipped her hair over her shoulder and strutted like she was on the catwalk. When she was ringside, she made a short detour to the fans with ringside seats. She handed off her expensive looking sunglasses to a young woman, and planted a kiss on the cheek of the man next to her that left a red imprint of her lips.

Satisfied with her little bit of showmanship, Mitsuru finally took to the metal stairs. Army took the part of the gentlemen and pried the ropes apart for her. As she ducked between them, she stood up immediately to face Army, close enough for their chests to touch. ”Quite right, Armando. Just hope you don’t come to regret that decision later” she winked, turning on her heel and flipping her hair once more so that the ends would whip into the Puerto Rican’s face. She waved to crowd and continued to work up their energy levels as she headed for her corner. Hands confidently on her hips, a pretty smile on her face, Mitsuru was working herself up as much as the crowd. She had seen every second of footage from Army’s bout with Ryuu, both in person and what had been posted to the net. She’d poured over old footage of his boxing days as well. Ryuu was probably the closest anyone in SEME could come to competing with Army in an all-out slug fest, and he had let the jitters of his first real match get the better of him.

As a strategist, she also knew better than to assume she could completely predict his fighting style just from old footage. Sure he relied on his strengths and stuck to his guns, but he was perfectly capable and willing to innovate as well. However, Army was still only really trained heavily in one style, whereas Mitsuru had the benefit of multiple disciplines. But would all her training really amount to anything in the ring? She scrapped with Hikaru, a venerable and experienced fighter in his own right, but Army was a different body type, and a much different style. She’d be lying if she didn’t admit that she was at least a bit apprehensive about it. Not only did she need to avenge Ryuu, but it was up to her to prove that SEME could back up all their big talk over the last few weeks.

With the final mental pep-talk complete, Izanami strode forward to the center of the ring. She nodded at the referee and placed her gaze on Army.

”Ready when you are”

Army had to give credit where credit was due: Mitsuru had a decent set of cajones, especially for someone who looked like a runway model. While there were plenty of gutsy ladies in the AFW, few of them would've dared to get in his personal space like she did, and even fewer would’ve whipped him in the face with her hair like that.

Ballsy. Or really stupid. As Army watched her walk away, he couldn't figure out which, but it hardly mattered. The truth would come out soon enough.

There were a few giggles from the peanut gallery, but Army just ignored them and wiped his nose. He made his way back to his corner and clapped with every backwards step he took, getting the crowd to go along with him. He backed into the turnbuckle, then leaned forward and grabbed the ropes, getting in some last minute stretching as the claps grew louder and came faster. Deep breaths. Heavy breaths. Getting psyched up as Mitsuru made her way to the center of the ring and threw another taunt his way.

”Don't you worry about me, lady.” He snorted, like a bull preparing to charge. ”Me? I was born ready.”

The bell rang and he went into action before the echo had even finished resonating. Army made his way across the ring with a couple bold strides and brought his arms up, looking to force Mitsuru into a collar-and-elbow tie up.

Izanami simply smiled when Army replied with the typical macho bravado, looking at him with such intensity it was a wonder he hadn't caught fire yet. The bell rang and instantly she began to block out anything outside the four corners of the ring. This match was like any other competition or tournament she had been in, just keep calm and stick to the plan.

And letting Army force her into a lock-up and grapple was definitely not part of that strategy. He was lightning quick after the bell rang out, easily closing the distance in only a few strides. His large arms were out and poised to take hold of her smaller form, but Izanami had other plans. She took a short running stride forward and then flipped herself into the air. Her right leg swung down from up high, aiming to cut across and nail Army in the side of the head. Of course this move was high-risk, it left her down on the ground and out of an immediately defensible position, but the reward was quite high as well.

Unlike his sage opponent, Army hadn't done any homework on Mitsuru, so he knew precisely Jack and shit about her style. He could figure out some things just from looking at her. It was pretty safe to say she wasn't going to be lifting him up into any gorilla presses or suplexes or anything like that. She looked like more of the Chun Li type. Flips, kicks, low on hit points. He'd handled that before.

Even with that in mind, though, he was still a little taken off guard when Mitsuru came at him with her crazy, flipping Xena kick of death. Somethings you just can't anticipate.

”The fuck?” He staggered back as the blow rocked his skull. Didn't hurt too much, but the sheer alacrity and surprise of it all threw him for a loop, and he found himself momentarily rubbing his head while he leaned on the ropes. Wide-eyed, open mouthed. ”The fuck was that?”

The big risk move had big risk reward and Army was left effectively surprised if not stunned as he staggered back to the ropes. Her normal strikes were not going to be enough to stagger a brute like Army, so she had to rely on skill, technique, and a little help from physics. Izanami recovered to her knees while Army leaned on the ropes dumbfounded by her expertise.

She bounced to her feet into a run straight for the man. At the last point of her run she dug in her heel and jumped into the air, boots forward, for what looked like a dropkick. However, that last minute heel pivot altered her trajectory and she instead dove through the ropes. Her hands caught hold of the top and middle ropes and she angled her momentum around hard, swinging her legs back towards the ring and aiming to deliver them hard into Army's back.

Mitsuru was coming and she was coming fast. She actually reminded him of his sister the way she moved, coming in with blazing speed and practiced grace. Carmen was more mechanical in her movements, though, and if he was being honest, not quite as slick as Mitsuru. The woman was a black blur and he just barely had enough time to get his arms up to block the incoming dropkick. Or, at least, he would have if that’d been what she was actually going for.

Army wasn’t exactly sure what happened. He’d gotten his arms up in a cross arm block to absorb the impact from Mitsuru’s dropkick, he noticed that it was taking longer to hit than it should’ve, and by the time he managed to peek out from his guard to see what was going on, there was a sharp pain in his back and some of the audience was clapping for whatever reason.

He didn’t have time to process any of it, and he wound up staggering out of the corner while he reached behind to rub the aching spot. Army spun around fast a moment later, trying to get a bead on Mitsuru before she made her next move. The momentum was getting away from him fast, and if he didn’t shut her down...

The swinging force of Izanami's strike traveled into Army and staggered him once more. She quickly pulled herself from the outside of the ring and bounced over the top rope back into the ring. It was imperative that she pace herself so as to not tire out before Army, but she figured she could get another good strike in while the iron was hot.

Army was turning round as she picked up speed to come at him again. Heart racing and chest pounding, Izanami jumped into the air once more with both knees extended. She aimed not only to drive her knees into the muscle between the pecs and collar bone while throwing her weight into his shoulder area. If she was lucky, Army's balance wouldn't be at 100% and her momentum would be enough to topple him onto his back. Her position would ideally allow her to ride his descent to the ground, from which she might be able to switch tactics and capitalize on his temporary vulnerability.

And there Mitsuru was again, leaping up, getting right in his face before he had the chance to even think about what his attack. Army had to be honest, he wasn’t expecting this match to be easy - they never were - but he thought he’d be able to at least get a hit in by now. But Mitsuru didn’t seem to have moves so much as she had one move - there was this continuous flow that was hard to break.It might've been fun to watch, but he was having a hard time appreciating it while he was on the receiving end.

The end result was that her knees found their way into his chest before he had the chance to react, and while she wasn’t all that heavy and he would’ve thrown her off easy any other time, now he was far too out of whack for the proper response. He went down like a felled tree, crashing onto his back with her knees digging into him.

The mat shook with the combined weight of Army and Mitsuru crashing down into, and she braced herself with her hands to keep from being thrown off by momentum. So far she had a good flow built up and Army hadn't been able to fight back otherwise, but no doubt his motivation and adrenaline had built up and he'd be able to shrug off weaker strikes if she kept nickle and dime-ing him.

However, there was also the thought that if she relented, Army would recover anyway and they'd be back to square one. She had already seen that Army had impressive stamina reserves, so her best bet was weaken his offense first.

Mitsuru pushed up and lifted her lower half up from Army's chest into a handstand, and then immediately dropped back down, drilling her knee into Army's right shoulder. She then rolled over the arm and pulled it between her legs and to her chest, locking in a tight armbar. What better way to deal with a boxer than to disarm his best weaponry?