Mikoto Kusanagi vs. Suzumi Ishikawa: Friendly Foes!

The sound of Suzu stumbling back down to the canvas startled Mikoto and snapped her out of her euphoric state of mind. The priestess turning back towards her fallen friend sheepishly crawling away. There was a part of her that wanted to rush to her side and do whatever she could to help Suzu...but after all this time, Mikoto finally knew better.

Someone as prideful as Suzu would only take offense to anyone helping her up, especially from the former pupil who just defeated her. So she remained steadfast and allowed Suzu the time to stand back up by her own volition. Which may have all been for the better considering Miko could barely keep herself standing from how beaten and exhausted she was, let alone help hoist Suzu back to her own feet.

"..."

Miko silently absorbed all her former friend had to say. The priestess finally connecting that all of Suzu's pent up animosity towards not losing to Miko was all just her coming to grips with her own internal doubt. Doubt as to whether she could still compete like she used to, and if her glory days were indeed behind her. All of Suzu's talk about Miko wanting her to fail now rolled off her back. She didn't allow it to enrage her anymore now that she understood where it all came from. Instead, once Suzu began to pass her by, the Tsunami would feel a tug on her wrist from Miko's hand. Turning her back in place to face Miko now that it was her turn to talk.

"...That...that is a shame, Suzu. A shame that this league would lose two former Wrestle angels in one day. Because, if you step through those doors, I'll be following you too. I wouldn't have made it this far without you, here or in Wrestle Angels. And I'm not gonna make it one day here without my best friend here to back me up..." Miko said with a wholesome smile to help alleviate the tension. But then she took a deep breath and stepped forward, placing her hands on Suzu's shoulders to make sure Suzu would hear exactly what she had to say next. "Suzumi...when it comes to your wrestling career...and to whether you should walk away from it all...I want you...to STOP LISTENING to what I have to say. Or what Chris says. Or what Risako says. Or what anyone else has to say. You are the ONLY one...the ONLY one, who knows when it's time for you to stop pursuing this lifestyle, okay?" Miko then lowered her head and closed her eyes, speaking much more softly with slight lump in her throat as she continued.

"I don't...I don't want what happened to Chris and Risako to happen to us. For us to be torn apart because of some petty rivalry in this ring. You...*sigh*...you've always said I was like a sister to you...I just think you should know...that...that feeling has always been mutual..."

As thick headed as Suzumi could be, for once she was silent and listened to everything Mikoto was saying. Tears were welling up in her eyes again, but for altogether totally different reasons.

Suzumi nodded her head and began to smile, not knowing at all what so say. Instead she just hugged Mikoto and felt like a great weight had been lift from her shoulders. "I am so sorry for everything, and thank you for just being there for me all along! I.. I friggin' love ya Mikoto!" Suzumi said as she just stood there squeezing Mikoto in her arms.

After a moment, Suzumi motioned towards the ropes. "We should probably get going huh? We're holding up the whole show aren't we?" Suzumi joked as the two began to make their way out of the ring and up the ramp. Suzumi was still smiling, and seemed more like her old self with each passing minute. "So like, do you still want to do a tag match sometime?" Suzumi asked as they made it up the ramp and to the back.

She had a feeling she already knew what the answer would be. Again, before the two women went their separate ways Suzumi wrapped Mikoto up in her arms to hug her, adding in a kiss to her forehead. "You really are the best, never forget that."

Plenty of people had watched that match. An arena’s worth, not to mention all those at home and all the staff. Not many of those had watched with any degree of purpose; most had been watching for entertainment, for work, because they were there. But at least one person had a definite purpose in watching. And her observation didn’t end with the ringing of the final bell.

Cold, dark eyes watched Suzumi and Mikoto as they embraced then parted. The watcher blended readily into the crowd of backstage workers, just another form among many, staying close but doing their best to keep out of sight. Or, if not out of sight, at least out of notice – which was easy in the organised chaos backstage.

When the two wrestlers split to go wherever they were both going, she didn’t even pause. She knew which one to follow and did so, carefully flitting along behind the subject of her interest. But it wasn’t until the poorly named Tsunami was caught by an interviewer and her camera minion that Samiya stepped out of hiding, bringing the chair she’d brought with her down in a devastating arc aimed at Suzumi’s skull.

The short wrestler might be small but she was still powerful and stocky of build and, if the surprise chair shot connected, she was confident she’d have an edge. Not to mention she was fresh while Suzumi had just been through an exhausting – if kind of pathetic – match.

”You should have stayed retired,” She hissed, ignoring the interviewer and her sputtered questions, ”And you should have taken that insult to my name with you. But that’s fine. It just means I get to retire you myself.”

Suzumi was worn out from giving it her all and falling short against Mikoto. She renewed her close sisterly love for her friend and that felt better than any win. She was about to be interviewed and managed a smile despite the pain she was in. Right as she was about to answer a question she was dropped violently with a chair shot to the head!

"AHHHH! Ungh........." Suzumi howled as she hit the floor with a resounding thud, moaning in pain as her hands went up to the back of her head to cover the site of the chair shot that dropped her. Suzumi rolled to her side, glancing up at this mystery woman who just assaulted her. "W-who...." Is all Suzumi could muster. Her body was already tired, aching and broken from the match.

Right now she was just a lamb led to the slaughter.

There was a certain satisfying reverberation to chair shots, in Samiya’s experience – limited though that was. The shock shivered back up the steel, letting you know you’d struck home. The way it dropped opponents was just a bonus, and Suzumi certainly went down like a sack of rocks. Of course, she was exhausted anyway, but still…

Samiya’s grin was cruel as she watched the silver-haired wrestler – if she could be called that -writhe.

She didn’t bother answering the half-stammered question about who she was. Instead, still grinning mercilessly, she brought the chair down again. This time on one of Suzumi’s legs, mostly because it was nearest. Then she chucked it off to one side, kicked Suzumi onto her back and dropped into a high schoolgirl pin.

”If your opponent sees this, this is how you execute a triangle choke.”

Grabbing hold of Suzumi’s head and arm, she yanked the beaten Tsunami up between her thick thighs and went to roll over, instantly figure-fouring her legs into what would be an airtight application of the choke. Samiya’s repertoire was full of triangle variations, she used them as finishers regularly and she was justifiably proud of her skill with the move.

Her legs might not be that long but they were full of stone-hard muscle.

Between that and Suzumi’s battered state, the Schoolgirl Assassin was more than confident that this would be a swift execution.

Of course, Suzumi wouldn’t let that stand. Or maybe she would. Either way, it was a certainty that Samiya would get what she wanted.

In Suzumi's weakened state she was powerless to stop the choke, trying as she might to get out. She was unable to get her feet underneath her and her punches at the backs of Samiya's knees and pressure points on her legs were ineffective. Still, Suzumi tried as beat she could.

At least she fought futily until her vision was fuzzy, her breathing labored and the chokehold took its toll. Suzumi blacked out, going limp at the hands of Samiya and her surprise cowardly ambush!

Weakened, tired and alone, Suzumi did her best but her best wasn’t anywhere near enough. Samiya’s triangle clamped down around her neck and shoulder and, with that cutting off the flow of blood to the brain, unconsciousness was inevitable. The tattooed beauty held her lock until she was confident her work was done, ignoring the feeble battering at her legs, only to roll the Tsunami off her as soon as she was unconscious.

Kipping back up to her feet, she waved at the interviewer.

”Mic please.”

Once she had it in hand, she turned to face the camera full on, one foot planted domineeringly on Suzumi’s sternum.

”When I started here, I talked about heroes. And this is exactly what I mean. Suzumi Ishikawa retired for months. She comes back, puts on a sub-standard match and you all cheer her like she’s a champion. Well, she isn’t. Soon, she’s not going to be a wrestler either.”

Samiya ground her boot down.

”Anyone else noticed that half her matches have been against her old Wrestle Angels pals? Or that she’s been on a losing streak? So it’s not just me? Great. So, here is what we’re going to do.”

She knelt down, grabbed Suzumi by the hair and pulled her up so they were almost nose to nose.

”You’re going to do what you should have done and retire. Permanently. Or I’ll hurt you so bad that you’ll never wrestle again. The fans don’t deserve to have to watch you fail your way through match after match after match.”

Samiya dropped the semi-conscious wrestler, tossed the mic on the wreckage of Suzumi and sauntered off with a smirk.

Her work here, as they said, was done.