Mai Nagasawa Vs. Samiya Kusanagi

Match Type: Standard
Winning Condition: Pinfall, Knockout or Submission

The lights in the arena dimmed, as the crowd settled in for the next match. Instead of the a blaring theme song, the crowd was greeted with a cheerful, familiar voice, one they hadn't heard in some time and were grateful to hear from again.

"Oooohaaaaayooooooo Tokyooooo!" The lights flashed on with an accompanying burst of pyrotechnics and standing at the top of the ramp was the effervescent and stunning model known as Mecha Neko Mai! She was wearing her tight fitting body suit which left none of her well defined body to the imagination. The fluffy ears, which seemed to wiggle in unison with Mai's own cheerful demeanor, and bushy tail completed her Super Fox Cat Hero persona.

"I hope you've missed me as much as I've missed you! After a long tour of America, I'm back home and ready to give you another fantastic show! Now!" She said, adjusting her headset. "How about a proper introduction! You know the words, so sing along!"

Finally "NOtaku no Love" began to play over the speakers. It was Mai's own theme and she sang along and danced beautifully for the crowd. Hyping them up and slapping their outstretched hands along the way. Though she wasn't always a part of the league, thanks to her career as an idol, she was a fan favorite due to her tough fought matches, cheery disposition and putting the fans enjoyment above most things. Even when she wasn't in the ring, she was involved in the company and was always out to meet n' greets and fan events.

Once inside the ring, Mai bounced to her corner and stretched, showing off her most dangerous weapon, her powerful legs as she stretched them on the top rope. She was facing another rookie tonight. Another girl facing her debut. She didn't mind it. She thought she could handle tougher competition, but she also knew that matching up with Mai would be a good bump for any rookie. If thy did well, the fans might take to them and they were sure to get an enjoyable match. If they happened to win, it might be an instant boost to their career as Mai was seen as rather tough.

Mai turned around and leaned against the turnbuckle. She had a bright smile on her face as she waited for her opponent.

Mai’s entrance was followed by a few beats as the staff backstage let the crowd settle down.

And then the speakers flared to life again, this time to the tune of Origa’s “Inner Universe”, a fast pitched drumming or tapping filling the arena. As the vocals kicked in at last, the figure of Samiya Kusanagi strode out from backstage to a less than thunderous ovation.

It didn’t seem to bother her. She was new, she was up against someone the crowd clearly thought of as a hero – Samiya sneered at that idea – making her the designated bad girl for the night and even the infamous Kusanagi name wasn’t going to be enough to overcome those disadvantages.

Halting at the top of the ramp, she paused to drop into a stretch, one knee bent under her and the other stretched out to the side. Samiya held the pose for a moment before rising back up, tossing her long reddish-purple hair over her shoulder and casting her gaze over the crowd. Then she set off down to the ring, a swish to her slim hips as she walked.

She’d been sure to do her research in the build up to this match, wanting to make a definite impact with her debut match in AFW without the wait she’d forced on herself in the other fed she’d wrestled in. She’d looked up every match Mai had wrestled in, looking into her favourite moves, any tells, any obvious buttons she could push… The usual.

So the woman known in her old stomping grounds as the Schoolgirl Assassin felt herself as ready as she’d ever be for this match. That didn’t stop the usual twist to her stomach as she threw herself under the ropes and rolled up into a crouch, then to her feet, shrugging off the long coat she’d worn over her one piece in one easy motion. The newcomer kicked it under the ropes, rolling her shoulders back, stretching her arms out, before she began to pace from side to side – waiting for the bell to sound so she could start circling in earnest.

Mai watched her opponent come down the ramp with a pleasant smile on her face. Despite the fact that it was a competition with a clear winner and loser determined and part of the goal was to inflict harm upon the other girl enough to achieve that, Mai always felt good going into her matches. She thought that fighting was a good way to bond and make friends and she thought this was no different.

She did not, however, know anything about the debuting rookie, unlike Samiya. She didn't need to know anything. Strong or weak, big or small, Mai was there to entertain and Samiya at least looked capable enough to do that. She wasn't bad to look at either, as she felt her eyes drift down Samiya's body when she revealed the tight fitting one piece.

Once Samiya seemed to be settled in, Mai flashed a Vee at her. "Ohayo!" She chirped. "Are you ready to give it your best shot against the Mecha Neko!?" Mai winked at Sumiya. "Let's make sure every fan gets their money's worth, ok? They'll be cheering us both by the end, no matter what!" Mai encouraged with some pre-fight banter, as she was wont to do.

Unlike her opponent, Samiya wasn’t smiling. Her expression was focused, although it’d be easy to mistake that for the look of a newbie nervous about her first mission. Well, there was always that nervous flutter before the adrenaline kicked in but she was used to that. No, she was planning.

While Mai was chatting and winking, Samiya was thinking through how to go about this. They were both the same height, but radically differing builds – Samiya knew from AFW stats that she had thirty odd pounds on Mai, was just plain stockier than the other wrestler. Carefully, she rolled a plain hairband off her wrist and reached up to pull her long hair back into a severe ponytail for the match.

What Mai didn’t get, what none of them got, was that she didn’t need them to cheer her. Cheer her, boo her – it was all the same to Samiya. All she cared was that she got a reaction. That said, if Mai was going to be all ‘rah-rah’, it’d be rude not to take advantage at least a little bit.

”Alright,” She agreed with a deceptively sweet smile, ”Let’s give them a show.”

Taking a step closer, the Schoolgirl Assassin raised her hands in the universal offer of a test of strength.

In her mind, the knee she’d drive into Mai’s gut if the Mecha-Neko accepted was almost predictable. But Samiya didn’t object to the classics. As far as she was concerned, Mai would have done the same – or, if not, she was even more stupid than her gimmick suggested.

Mai was someone who was an entertainer and believed that people should put their best foot forward always. When she watched Samiya hold up her hands for the test of strength, Mai nodded, her perky cat ears twitching with the movement.

Most of her power was in her legs, not her arms, so a test of strength did not necessarily benefit her, but it was a good way to open a match and she definitely wasn't going to do anything malicious. Besides, there was definitely a part of her that wanted to see if she could hang with the schoolgirl strength wise. They were the same height, but Samiya looked a just a little heavier, though her ample chest could have been throwing Mai's calculations off.

She threaded her fingers between Samiya's and pushed with all her might- for the second they were locked up before the hard knee was driven into her gut.

"Guuuh!"

Mai's butt shot backwards and up as she doubled over and tried not to drop to one knee." She looked up at Samiya and tried to pull her fingers free. "Is that ... what you're like...?" She muttered.

And yes, apparently the other woman was that naïve.

Well, the world hadn’t let Samiya off for being terminally stupid, so she didn’t see why Mai ought to get a pass. And the knee to the gut was fairly eloquent testimonial to those ends, not to mention ending the test of strength before it had really begun. Small as she was, Samiya was pretty damn strong for her size and build and she hadn’t pulled her punches there.

Mai’s fanbase were booing her now but Samiya paid no attention to them whatsoever as she took advantage of her newly acquired dominance to push down against her opponent.

”And you were stupid enough to fall for the oldest trick in the book,”

Samiya kept a firm grip on one hand but let the other one go when Mai tried to pull it free. In fact, she pulled her own fingers loose at the same time but only so that she could slam that elbow down hard into the base of Mai’s neck, where her head met her spine.

”So what’s that say about you, robot girl?”

Hoping that would have dazed the other wrestler, Samiya – still keeping a hold on that arm – swiftly went to apply a front facelock and fall back in an attempt to spike Mai’s skull into the canvas with a snap DDT.

That sort of thing wasn’t exactly her speciality, but a few hits to the head in the early game did wonders to set up some of her more personal favourites later in the match.

"Ahhhh!"

Before Mai could respond, the elbow sharply drove into the back of her neck, putting her on her knees from her hunched over position. She brought her now free hand up to rub the back of her neck while Samiya continued to taunt her. Her arm was still locked with the smaller girl's, however, and as she tried to get back to a semi-standing position, she was roughly yanked into the standing facelock.

bringing her hand around, she shoved it into Samiya's chest to try and stave off the lock, but before she could accomplish much, she was driven into the mat and slumped against it. The crowd was gasping as it looked like the Mecha Neko was already out of it even before the bell stopped ringing.

She hadn’t really been looking for an actual answer from Mai, which was just as well because she didn’t get one before her DDT blasted the other wrestler’s skull into the mat with predictable results.

There was a hard grin on Samiya’s features as she rolled neatly free of Mai’s wreckage and smoothly up into a kneeling position – arms thrown wide in a ‘so how do you like that?’ gesture aimed at the fans before she glanced down dismissively at her opponent.

”That’s what I thought.”

But she wasn’t planning to linger or showboat just yet. The DDT had scrambled the mecha-neko’s brains for the moment but she wouldn’t be down for long. In the meantime, Samiya had a golden opportunity to do some damage and she fully intended to take it.

Having done her scouting on Mai in the run up to this match, she’d watched a number of the other wrestler’s matches and had rapidly noted Nagasawa’s predilection for attacks using her long legs. When building her own strategy, therefore, she’d known that those needed to be high on her list of targets. The more damage she could do to those, the less able Mai would be to go on the offensive and the less mobile she’d be into the bargain.

With that in mind, Samiya immediately scooted around to lie behind Mai, where she’d grab the former idol’s legs and go to twist them into a reverse figure-four leglock. Her right knee behind Mai’s left knee, fold the right leg in and get her other knee over Mai’s ankle.

That ought to muck up the mecho-neko’s gears a bit.

Mai was already out of it enough to let Samiya begin to apply the leg lock. Her muscles twitched as her legs were folded up, but as it was locked int, Mai was definitely woken up. "Iiiieeeee!" She shrieked again and began flaling and pounding her fists against the mat. The ref was quick to ask for her submission and she hissed a defiant "NO! NEVER!" at the zebra girl.

Gritting her teeth, Mai, pushed onto her shoulders and tried to force a reversal of their positions so that she was on her butt with Samiya in the supine position. If this girl wanted to try and take out Mai's strong legs, shed see what she was up against.

"Rrrrrggghh!"

The elbow and the DDT had their desired effect, letting the Schoolgirl Assassin lock in the reverse figure-four with impunity. Mai was already coming back to some sort of consciousness as she put the move together but the real fun started once those dangerous legs started to come under attack. Of course the ref immediately asked whether she wanted out and, equally obviously, the ‘heroine’ said no.

Samiya kept on guard. Agonising as the move was, she didn’t expect Mai to give any time soon and that meant she’d be trying to escape soon. The fans were chanting for just that and Samiya chuckled as she bucked her hips up to put further emphasis on the hold.

”You’re wasting your breath,” the purple-haired girl shrieked, earning herself a chorus of boos from those close enough to hear, a wide grin splitting her features and eyes alight.

And here came the rollover, the layman’s favourite counter to the figure-four. Predictable and Samiya was half-expecting Mai to go for that one. The other fifty percent had been betting on her going for the ropes straight away but fine. She’d got a plan for both options.

Submissions were Samiya’s bread and butter in the ring and she really didn’t plan on letting anything as simple as this mess up her plans. Rather than trying to resist Mai’s attempt at rolling them, Samiya rolled with her, instead trying to keep them rolling through a full three-sixty turn so that she’d once again be in the dominant position.

It’d still hurt as they went through the part where she was on her front and it was taking them closer to the ropes but – if it worked – it’d keep the pressure firmly where she wanted it.