The Arisawas vs. The Rodriguezes - World Warriors

Natsu may not have been accustomed to dealing with the type of strikes Carmen was capable of doling out, but being a scrappy fighter meant learning how to roll with the punches and adapt on the fly when you were in over your head. And that's how she was managing to cobble together her token resistance once Carmen had her propped up. Wailing away with consecutive strikes that were rallying the audience behind her once Natsu was clearly represented as the plucky underdog in this fight.  

Natsu grit her teeth as she continued her waylaying strikes into Carm's crumbling abs, scrounging up whatever strength she could once she noticed the loosening grip on her hair and Carmen's own slouching stance. She knew her sudden resistance was making major headway, she just knew it. She just had to keep at it. The momentum of the match was slowly but surely turning in her favor, Natsu getting caught up in the excitement of the moment herself...before Carmen would put a tumultuous end to her comeback by plowing her fist into Natsu's stomach and deflating the hopes of the audience as well.

"Oooph!!" Natsu heaved out the air in her lungs immediately upon contact, the schoolgirl hunched over on her tip toes before slumping down to one knee if allowed. Struggling to breath while cradling her breadbasket, Natsu was once again pleasantly educated as to the difference in caliber between Carm's strikes and her own. The Tension 24/7 champ doing in one punch what Natsu couldn't do in three.

”Booooooooooooooooo!”

The audience's reaction after Carmen landed the uppercut genuinely surprised her. Boos. Jeers. Hisses. It wasn't the first time they'd been directed to her, but it had been a good, long while since she’d drawn this sort of ire. Not since the earliest days, when she wrestled without using any wrestling moves.

A little irritating, but as she looked back to the struggling Natsu, she understood why - it was hard to be the good guy when you were beating up a schoolgirl. Today she was the villain. No way around it.

She kept her fist lodged in Natsu’s stomach, forcing her to stand upright, holding her up. That was only for a scant moment, though, before she went back into action, grabbing Natsu’s wrist with both of her hands and getting a secure grip.

She spun around, and for a second, it looked like she was going to inexplicably Irish Whip Natsu towards her own corner, where she’d get some much needed relief. But, instead of releasing her at the last moment, Carmen held onto the wrist, swung the schoolgirl out as far as she could go...then spun back around sent her running towards the Rodriguez family corner instead, putting all her weight, momentum and strength into a massive throw.

As appreciative as she was for the audience's rallying support for her and subsequent deriding jeers for Carm, Natsu would have much rather preferred earning that adulation from doing more than just being Carm's punching bag and not collapsing to her knees. Not that she could anyway, considering the fist wedged into her crumbled abdomen was perhaps the only thing keeping her aloft. Natsu had the aching suspicion that being propped up and hunched over like this in front of Carmen was sure to be one of those enduring images that would come back to haunt her, that perhaps highlighted the difference in skill level between the two.

Natsu's legs were barely keeping up with the forceful tugging of her wrist once Carm dislodged her fist and started flinging Natsu to and fro all around the ring. The passing glimpse of her brother in her disoriented state reminded her that Goto was going to have a field day of critiquing her performance in this match when they got backstage. The schoolgirl not recognizing in that split second that she was close enough for a sorely needed tag out before being flung back across the ring. Natsu spun in place and crashed spine first against the opposite turnbuckle with momentous force, letting out a pained yelp with her legs limply kicking out.

"Jeez...magine if I said I wasn't a fan..." Natsu mumbled out after slumping back down in enemy territory, suddenly and inadvertently sparking a conversation with Army of all people.

Carmen hit Natsu with an Irish Whip, but another name for the move was a hammer throw, and that was probably more fitting here. She put as much energy and fire as you could possibly put into one of the most basic wrestling moves ever invented, and the result was a transition move that got as much damage as a regular one.

Army was right there when Natsu hit, and he winced along with the rest of the audience. Carmen seemed to be in a rare mood today, and this cheerful schoolgirl was feeling the brunt of it. ”Yeah, she’s in a rare mood today, sorry for all the pummeling.” He glanced to the side and took a step away from her, getting behind the ring post. ”Might want to get your arms up, by the way. Like, right now.”

Carmen made sure Natsu’s respite was brief, crossing the ring a moment later. She brought her fists up and started laying down a barrage of rapid jabs, peppering the younger fighter with a rapid fire assault. None of them were too powerful by themselves, but they came fast and landed with pinpoint precision, each one designed to keep Natsu in the corner.

The referee did her job, objecting and telling Carmen to back off. She would, before the five-count expired. Until then, she intended to get the most out of the moment.

Natsu spared Army a curious glance when he mentioned turtling up for the benefit of her own health, not totally grasping why he would suddenly retreat behind the steel ring post until she turned her attention back to the 24/7 Tension champ. Striding her way towards her with clenched fists and a look of unflinching focus and killer intent in her eyes.

"Aw, man..." Army's last second advisory to the storm of fists coming her way spared Natsu from taking any errant strikes at the offset, the schoolgirl huddling into the corner with her arms shielding her head. Though that left her vulnerable rib cage susceptible to taking the brunt of the blows, Natsu cringing her teeth from the pain in her sides and finding herself unable to defend against those strikes unless she wanted to risk leaving her noggin wide open to take the same punishment.

Throughout the pummeling, a growing frustration was simmering inside of her. Rash impulsiveness dominating her thoughts when more experienced fighters would be trying to keep their cool under pressure. She remained steadfast in her defensive posture until the referee would mercifully break them up, compelling the fired up Natsu to step towards Carm and shove her back even further.

What may be interpreted as a bush league sign of disrespect was actually just Natsu leveraging a few more feet of space between them. The schoolgirl glaring towards Carm before angling off her left leg in her twisting overhead Flower Kick aimed squarely for the side of her opponent's cranium, flashing her crimson red bloomers in the rotation.

Suddenly Carmen was back in the boxing ring, working against an opponent in one of her tougher matches. It hadn’t been easy, but she’d finally gotten her in the corner, and she knew what to do from there.

Left and right and right and left and right, over and over, faster and harder. Carmen worked like a well-oiled machine on Natsu, zeroing in on her ribs wth punishing hooks and battering at her guard. She could’ve done it all day, really, or at least until Natsu finally dropped.

But this wasn’t boxing, it was wrestling, and there was only so much of that she could get away. The referee moved in, separating the two, and Carmen went along with. Didn’t say a word of protest.

Then Natsu shoved her.

Carmen took a step back, then cocked her head to the side, staring at the schoolgirl. Something about the gesture, the nerve of that little motion got under her skin just the wrong way, and she moved in to restart the process.

She ran right into Natsu’s kick. The arena echoed with the sound of a loud slap as the sneaker connected with Carmen’s face. The 24/7 Champion staggered back after it connected, moving a few feet away from Natsu, stunned, but just for a second. Then she shook it off and glared her way, ready to pounce one again…

...until the head trauma kicked in, and she fell to her knees, shaking her head as she tried to bring her mind back together.

Natsu was becoming understandably teed off with having been on the defensive for so long, chalking up her shove to rookie impulsiveness and letting her emotions get the best of her. But she couldn't argue with the supposed results...her signature kick smacking Carmen upside her head and seemingly causing her to lose her sense of equilibrium before teetering over. Except she didn't. Natsu's eyes widening when Carm looked like she was going to shake off one of her best kicks like it was a mosquito bite.

Natsu remembered horror movies that started out like this. The schoolgirl resolutely clenching her fists and prepping herself to possibly take the beating of a lifetime...until Carm would collapse to her knees and postpone the beating for another time.

"Phew...almost had me for a second there..." Natsu breathed a sigh of relief and wasted little time in shuffling over to her corner, passing by Carmen with no intentions of capitalizing further on her helpless state. Even for someone as rambunctious as her, she could tell she had been in the match for too long. And Carmen was most definitely not someone you go up against without being at your utmost best shape...

"So...*pant*...how'd I do?! A? A+? A++?" The beaming schoolgirl eagerly asked Goto after tagging him in, panting exhaustively with her hands on her hips and hoping to hear a positive assessment of her abilities from her MMA champion brother. The bruise on her face and rib cage all indicative that Natsu had just taken a licking, but was still relatively ticking.

This time, Goto did not chastise his sister for making the tag. Extending his hand out as she slapped it. However, as she asked for advice, Goto shook his head. "We'll asses it later." He spoke, not giving any indication of how he felt one way or another.

When he stepped into the ring, he tightened the belt on his gi and took a fighting stance as he watched Carmen. "Will you tag your brother in?" He asked. "He and I are both fresh. To fight me now for the sake of some sense of feminine pride at this point is dishonoring him as well. Both of us are eager for a manly engagement!"

Goto spoke, looking past Carmen as he clenched his fist and nodded to Army.

Carmen stood up, nice and slow, as she watched Goto come in. She’d been considering tagging out with Army, anyway - the fight was starting to wear on her, and while she’d been through more trying matches and stil managed to come out, the beauty of a tag match was that she didn’t need to exert herself. She’d done some good damage to Natsu. She could recharge, come back stronger.

She was just about to tag out when Goto tagged in and started up the same macho line from before, every bit as tiresome. As much as she would’ve really enjoyed knocking him flat, this wasn’t a handicap match. It was Army’s turn.

”Do me a favor.” Carmen slapped hands with Army and slid through the ropes, taking her spot on the turnbuckle. ”Punch him in the mouth.”

”Can do.” Army grabbed the ropes and leaped over the top, landing hard in the ring and shaking it all over. He brought up his fists into a classic boxing stance and started bouncing on his toes. ”All right, No Shoes.” He threw out a quick jab, just letting it slice the air. ”You want me, you got me.”

*A++~...* Natsu deliriously thought to herself with a prideful smile as she stepped through the middle and top ropes to rest up in her corner, not quite interpreting Goto's monotonic response quite as he may have thought.