Gato Blanco vs. Kozue Kaburagi - She's Lost Control

Kozue was honestly a little surprised that manuever even worked. There were so many things that could’ve gone wrong - not ducking down enough, Gato not jumping high enough, not sliding all the way - that it was a small miracle she pulled the thing off.

But it did happen. Perfectly. And her reward for craziness was Gato’s back after he landed, just standing there, waiting for her to do whatever she pleased. Like a painter with a blank canvas, and she had so many colors to use.

Figuring it was best to go with a classic, Kozue popped up, leaped straight in the air, shot her legs out and hit Gato in the back with a front dropkick, looking to send him staggering towards the ropes for an added bonus.

Also, she might’ve been trying to get him near Gato’s girlfriend, just to mess with her a little bit. Maybe.

Kozue was honestly a little surprised that maneuver even worked. There were so many things that could’ve gone wrong - not ducking down enough, Gato not jumping high enough, not sliding all the way - that it was a small miracle she pulled the thing off.

But it did happen. Perfectly. And her reward for craziness was Gato’s back after he landed, just standing there, waiting for her to do whatever she pleased. Like a painter with a blank canvas, and she had so many colors to use.

Figuring it was best to go with a classic, Kozue pops up, leaped straight in the air, shot her legs out and hit Gato in the back with a front dropkick, looking to send him staggering towards the ropes for an added bonus.

Also, she might’ve been trying to get him near Gato’s girlfriend, just to mess with her a little bit. Maybe.

Blanco's head was spinning, as he tried to get settled on his feet and and re-locate himself in the ring. Often in the ring, you had to be able to turn on a dime. Against an opponent like Kozue, with incredible speed and athleticism, that was especially true. And unfortunately, it seemed the svelte ninja girl was not going to be allowing much time for that turnaround.

Before he knew it, Blanco felt Kozue's feet plant hard in his back, launching him forward. "Aghh," the luchador grunted, flying forward, arms forward and legs kicked out uselessly behind him. The combination of Blanco's unsteady balance and Kozue's forward momentum was enough that the luchador's body wound up getting knocked hard into the ropes!

Beside herself ever since Kozue had ducked the kick, Holly had been practically hugging the ring apron. Which meant that as Blanco came tumbling forward, his face was quite nearly planted square in Holly's chest. "Eeep!" the Brit squealed, as Blanco got hung up helplessly on the ropes, just a few inches from slamming head-first into her. Blanco felt the effects of the rope snapping back against him as he landed, the taut ropes bouncing back against him. The near-collission left both of them stunned, the luchador left hanging helplessly there for a moment, both himself and Holly just trying to recover.

Instead of just landing ungraciously on her back after the dropkick like most people would’ve, Kozue arched her back, used the impact from the blow to flip herself around, and wound up landing on one knee, turning it into a dropsault. A bit of extra effort, but the reward? She was in a perfect position to attack, right off the bat. And what she saw when her head came up brought the widest smile to her face.

There was Gato Blanco, hanging on the ropes with his admittedly nice ass readily displayed. Kozue had to think all of half a second before she made up her mind on how to proceed. ”201.”

She broke into a run, dashed towards Gato’s side, and leaped through the ropes, as if she were about to make the incredibly stupid move of doing a suicide dive with no target to hit. Fortunately, she wasn’t quite that stupid - instead, she grabbed the ropes, swung around, and hit Gato right in the mask with the famous tiger feint kick, making sure both feet made contact.

Catching his breath after getting rocked off the ropes, Blanco struggled for a moment to compose himself. He tried to push himself off the ropes and back to his boots, but couldn't. A sharp pain in his neck kept Blanco from backing off the ropes, leaving him momentarily dangling, prone and vulnerable. That single moment was all Kozue needed to take full advantage of his positioning.

At ringside, the luchador could see Holly's eyes opening wide almost doubling in size. Blanco wondered if his hearing was going out, or something, as Holly opened her mouth to shout something but no words were coming out. It was then that the groggy veteran realized that is wasn't his hearing, but her warning getting drowned out by the rising voices of a massively excited audience. Kozue was on the move again.

The realization came just seconds before the svelte ninja ducked between the ropes, her legs picking up momentum and slamming hard into Blanco's face. The blow rocked him back, knocking him clean off the ropes and tumbling into the ring. When he came to a stop, the kick-drunk luchador lay on his back, arms over his head. He kicked a boot weakly, a totally futile effort to get back to his feet that left one leg on the mat, the other knee-up. Staring at the arena lights, Gato Blanco shook his head, trying to get back in the fight. He knew all too well that for as much as that kick could rock someone, there was always a follow up! Clenching and un-clenching his hands, Blanco gathered strength as he weakly turned back to Kozue, waiting to see what exactly that follow-up might be.

Kozue landed the tiger feint kick perfectly, earning a nice round of applause from the crowd, but she didn’t have the luxury of basking in it. She had a little problem.

Gato had been knocked on his back, which was a good thing. He wasn’t perpendicular to her position, though - he was parallel. She could have changed that by just moving around the ring, but she didn’t want to waste precious time. She needed to get around the ring in a hurry.

She did have an idea, but it was bit crazy and could screw up in a multitude of ways. But if it worked, it would look extremely cool.

It didn’t even take her a full second to make up her mind. She was doing it.

”Take notes.” Kozue threw a quick glance at Gato’s girlfriend - it was just too fun not to - then went into action. She grabbed the rope and pulled herself up with a quick tug, planted her feet on the top rope as if she were about to go for a springboard. Instead of jumping directly to Gato, though, she leaped to the nearest side of the ring and shot her legs out, so the back of her knees would come down on the rope.

From there, it was just a matter of letting gravity do its thing: Kozue’s leg hit the rope, her body flipped backward, and she came down on where she assumed Gato’s body was with an Arabian Press Moonsault.

Blanco's head was still swimming, as he struggled to keep his bearings in the ring.  Somehow, getting kicked in the head got easier over time, but never enough.  The drumming chants of the fans were expecting something big, but what?  Looking over to the ring ropes, Blanco peered through his mask to try and get a glimpse of what.  He only hoped he could catch on before it was too late.

At ringside, Holly was staring up with a mix of fear and irritation, at the pert young ninja who'd just kicked her man and mentor's mask in.  Holly balked, when Kozue actually took a moment to acknowledge her, throwing some shade her way before getting back to work.  "Hey!"  Holly said, startled.  "Y-you just wait, you'll get yours, you springy little toothpick!"  She was almost tempted to take a swing even, having been worked into a fit quite effectively by Kozue this entire match.  The ref had a keen eye on the Brit, however, leaving her completely powerless to intervene as Kozue bounced with infuriating grace from rope to rope.  Whatever Kozue was planning, Holly feared it was going to be big!

Blanco saw the exchange, from the corners of his mask, and was struggling to move himself to respond.  Dazed, he couldn't effectively gauge exactly where Kozue would be coming down on him from.  Rolling out in any direction could be completely useless.  Instead, the veteran luchador decided to go the other route, the move he liked to call el tortuga- with whatever strength he could muster, Blanco tried to pull his legs over his chest.  It would protect him somewhat, if he could get them up in time.  Blanco was still reeling from the kick, and Kozue was one of the fastest competitors the luchador had ever seen.  And even if he did get the legs up in time, there was only so much protection they could offer.  Either way, at least one of them was coming out of this, hurting.

She could do this. Kozue had this whole thing in the bag, she knew it.

She felt so good flying through the air, pulling off the crazy moves. It was one of the reasons she’d gone for such a high-flying moveset in the first place. She’d always liked to show off when she was a kid, and there was no better way to get a pop from the crowd than working the ropes.

But when she crashed and burned, it sucked. Mightily.

To her credit, Kozue hit her target. Sort of. While she did land on Gato, she hadn’t intended to do so while his legs were up. But lo and behold, that was what happened. And it did, indeed, suck.

”Guuaah!” Kozue cried out and rolled off of the fallen luchadore, grasping her stomach as her innards churned. She rolled over to her chest and buried her face in the mat, using it to muffle her cries.

Blanco felt his knees roll up to his chest, just an instant before he felt the impact of Kozue's body against them. It was a close thing, both wrestler's bodies bouncing against the ring at the moment of impact. Against many opponents, the knee-up defense would have worked immensely. Against someone with Kozue's speed, however, there wasn't qutie enough time to brace for impact, to prevent the shock of her landing from carrying through the legs, and still managing to punish the rest of Blanco's body.

After Kozue rolled off of him, El Gato turned over. Mostly, he was riding the force of the impact. The sprightly ninja had still managed to rock his body with that dive, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. Having felt how hard her slender abs had landed against his body, however, the luchador imagined her end of the collission had been a bit more unpleasant. On his hands and knees, Blanco took a deep breath, and readied himself to push up onto his feet, for more.

Not taking a moment, however, was Holly. "Ooooh!" she exclaimed, jaw dropping. "What was I supposed to be taking notes on, Kozue? How being a smart mouthed ass gets you in trouble? I'll be sure to remember it!" Holly wasn't paying enough attention, perhaps, to how effective the Kubaragi girl had been. She didn't really care; she was finally getting her jabs in, and it felt glorious. Gato Blanco, meanwhile, was just starting to push himself to his feet. The luchador would have to resume the fight soon, he knew ... but not right now. Not until he could get his breathing under control, and try to recover some of his strength. Which would end up leaving Kozue some time to recover, herself, after that brutal impact.

God, Gato Blanco was good. Really good.

She'd figured that out he would be, the man came in with a huge pedigree. She'd seen his matches. But being in the ring with him, being unable to get a good foothold over his offense, was a unique experience. This was the sort of thing she did to other people. Here, she felt like she was being out-Kozue’d.

Also, she was really going to have to stop paying attention to Gato’s girlfriend. Becoming a wee bit of a distraction.

For now, she focused on just getting back to her feet. That was a task enough all by itself, as she rolled over near the corner. With one hand still clutched tight around her waist, she grabbed the turnbuckle and began to pull up to her feet, leaning in the corner every bit of the way.