Rafael Vega (Debut) vs Matthew Matthias, A Judoka Makes His Move!

This is it! I'm gonna win! Rafael thought to himself with glee as the referee hit the one count, then the two unperturbed. Before the third and final count, Matthew threw himself up with enough force to dislodge and send Rafael tumbling off him. He slapped the mat with frustration, but at the very least, the peppy smile was back on his face once again.

Rafael's journey to get to his feet was a slow one. His legs felt more numb than anything, which let him stand but he wasn't sure how much mobility he'd get out of them right away. Luckily for him, Matthew was still metaphorically licking his wounds in the corner, so he had time to test the waters. He wiggled one leg and then the other, and eagerly decided he was good enough to go.

Rafael grinned wider as he angled himself sideways and placed his arms into a standard judo ready pose. "Are you gonna lay there all day, dude? You can sit and have tea later~!" he very absurdly taunted, and stuck his tongue out for good measure. Yeah, that was definitely suuuuuper intimidating....

Matthew took a few moments to regain his breath, and nursed his wounds until the throbbing pains began to numb. He was suddenly interrupted by Rafael's...."insult", causing the crazed man to look at him, before scoffing and saying "Really?......pathetic." as he pulled himself up and walked forwards, stumbling slightly, but then stretched his leg out, causing a notable cracking sound, before being able to walk freely. He approached the rookie and said "I'm going to rip that tongue out if you don't put it away." As he stretched his arms out before attempting a lockup in the centre of the ring.

His height and weight played a huge advantage, allowing Matthew to press down on the man and use his weight against him, before striking his knee into the man's abdomen once more, and attempting to wrap his hands around the back of his head. If all worked out, Matthew would swing Rafael's head towards the ground, but pull his knee out at last second, which would make the two collide.

Rafael shrugged when Matthew criticized his taunt, he was just starting out, give him a break! He started to think that maybe giving his opponent that breather was a mistake judging by the way Matthew seemed refreshed now, maybe next time he'd just push his advantage rather than his luck. Seeing his opponent's arms outstretched for a lock-up excited Rafael, this was no time to back down from a challenge!

Matthew's height and weight did indeed afford him a degree of control over their lock-up, but this was where perhaps Rafael's judo could come in handy. Matthew began to push down on him, Rafael resisted at first until he saw that knee come rushing up. He ended up blocking the strike with the bony part of his shin, which ouch, definitely hurt, but was also definitely less pain than the alternative.

Following the failed knee strike, he could feel Matthew trying to pull his head down even more, so Rafael grabbed at the bottom of the man's baggy hoodie and dropped to his knees. At the same time he ducked low, twisted himself sideways, and pulled on the hoodie to the effect that he was trying to yank his opponent down with him, across his shoulders, and then flipped onto the mat.

Matthew threw out the knee as he attempted to swing the judoka student's head down, but found it getting blocked by his shin, which shot a quick jolt of pain down said knee, but Matthew was determined to pull him down, and possibly attach a sleeper or some other submission, as long as he had him on the ground. Before that could happen however, Rafael managed to drop to his knees, and Matthew suddenly felt the bottom of his loose hoodie get yanked forwards as he was quickly flipped over the man's shoulders and onto his back.

Matthew smacked onto the mat, shouting in frustration as he suddenly shot up and backed off. He may have looked like a coward to the crowd, always rushing away from Rafael, but to him he was simply keeping his distance, trying to find the right opportunity to strike and hit the crippling blow. He then suddenly grabbed the neck of said hoodie and pulled it off in one quick swipe, leaving him in his tight black t-shirt, revealing some of his toned body underneath. "So that's how you want to play? Then let's play." He said as he tossed it outside.

He then stretched his arms and suddenly leaped forward to get face to face with Rafael and wrap his own arm onto his shoulder, before attempting to use his leg to sweep the back of his before forcefully pushing him forward and attempting to painfully slam him to the ground with a takedown of his own (known in Judo as a "O Soto Gari"!), shouting "Just die!" as he did. Whilst it was true Matthew didn't know a speck of Judo and wasn't trained in any means, he had seen the takedown used previously, and thought that a takedown of his own style would be the last thing Rafael would expect.

Following his successful throw, Rafael spun around to catch Matthew on the ground with some kind of joint lock, only to find the man was swiftly retreating. He made an exasperated face and shrugged to the audience, as if to say 'Well, what can ya do?', which earned a nice peal of laughter. He rose back to his feet and began to pace while Matthew slipped out of his hoodie into a more form-fitting black tee. "Erm, you seem to have a stripping fetish, I didn't sign up for that" he joked, and he made an frowning expression like the crazy was just too much to understand.

He did however get more serious as Matthew rushed at him again, and Rafael raised his arms to prepare to intercept. As he reached for the man's tee, Matthew's longer arms grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a more favorable position. The immediate feeling of recognition put a surprised expression on Rafael's face as Matthew swept his leg, this weirdo knew judo? That moment of confusion and dropping of his guard meant that the landing also took him by surprise, and momentarily winded him. Rafael lay there stunned and frozen for only a short time before scrambling to get away, but it was probably enough for Matthew to continue into a different move.

Matthew swung forward and successfully slammed Rafael straight down to the mat, stunning the blonde as he lay there in pain. Matthew got back to his knees and looked at his downed opponent and decided, it was time to finish things. "Time to go back to whatever shithole you came from kid." He said evilly, grabbing Rafael's hair as he tried to scramble away. He picked him up to his feet and gave him another headbutt for his troubles, before bending the Japanese-Brazilian's upper torso backwards and wrapping his arm around his head, looking to go for the Reverse Swinging STO!

He held him in position and shouted "Look at him now!" as he looked out to the jeering crowd, smiling as he looked at the angry faces, until he seen a certain someone and his heartbeat near enough stopped for a moment, it was Kamo, Kamo Ryusaki. Matthew's head filled with memories of the attack he received at the gym, the gruelling pain he had been put through in the tables match, and the attack he and his attack dog Casimir had gave him at his own home. He continued to stare as Kamo's evil gaze stared right back at him, a wicked smile on his lips. He felt like he was looking straight into Matthew's soul as he continued to look on in shock, giving Rafael the opportunity to reverse the situation!

That osotogari didn't damage Rafael much, but the following unprotected headbutt sure sent him for a loop. He shut one eye in pain as his head swam, causing him to sway as his balance decided to betray him too. Once Matthew grabbed him and started tilting him back, it was nearly all over for his balance, his arms swung wildly as he tried to fight off the sensation that he was falling, despite being held up.

Matthew shouted for the crowd to look at their energetic rookie moments before his doom, and that made Rafael's pulse sky-rocket even higher. He desperately grabbed at Matthew's bicep as he tried to pull himself up before he finished the move, before the pain was brought down on him, but it was too late! He was finished! Oh nooooo! Rafael waited and waited, but Matthew didn't move. What was going on? The pause in the action gave time for Rafael think, but perhaps more importantly, for Rafael to act boldly.

He let his weight sink down in the hold for a moment while he adjusted his grip on Matthew's arm and side, he'd need a good anchor point. The Brazilian took a deep breath, and then threw his weight upwards and kicked off from the mat. His lower half swung up and around like he was orbiting Matthew, and he ended up on the man's back. Rafael pulled the arm with him up into a Fujiwara armbar, and then rammed his free elbow into Matthew's spine to get him to fall facefirst into the mat.

Once they were on the ground, Rafael made sure he kept the armbar locked in tight, and then advanced to securing the move even more. He slid his legs back and scissored the leg on the same side of the body as the armbar, thus making it highly difficult for Matthew to move. "Look at you now!" he shouted playfully and cockily as he twisted Matthew's wrist at an angle it really didn't want to. A pin hadn't worked earlier, so maybe he could score a submission? That was more his speed anyway.

((For reference for the position Rafael flips into, click here))

Matthew was still staring at Kamo when suddenly he felt Rafael kick up from underneath him and suddenly managed to twist onto his back. Matthew went wide eyed and shouted in pain as his opponent pulled up his arm and cinched in the fujiwara armbar, and suddenly he found himself flying to the mat from a Rafael-delivered elbow straight to his back. Matthew felt his leg get scissored as the pains in his arm increased more and more as Rafael pulled back as hard as he could.

His vision was blurring from the pain as he desperately tried to pull both him and Rafael across the ring towards the ropes, but his leg being trapped in the scissor hold was pretty much defeating any chance of that happening. The pain burnt more and more and Matthew almost had tears in his eyes because of it, it felt like Rafael was trying to tear his arm off! He gave one last huge push of effort into reaching....but he couldn't do it. Matthew screamed "I FUCKING GIVE!" as he pounded his hand on the map, signalling the tap out and the end of the match. Matthew had been defeated yet again!

Rafael was having the time of his life again now that he was back in control and not being beaten or contorted or punched in the face. He just kept pulling and pulling on the armbar, his ankles were locked together, and despite Matthew's attempts, Rafael was content to make him struggle for every inch. "Comon sourpuss, you can do it! Just work a little harder!" Rafael mocked as he bounced his back up and down a bit to drive home the message.

He was completely unprepared for when the bell started to ring and he heard his own name announced over the loud speakers of the arena. The referee came to pat and pull on his shoulder, dragging a bewildered looking Rafael to his feet. He looked positively shocked when his arm was lifted into the air and the crowd's cheers blasted his ears, but gradually that shock would fade and be replaced with a look of pure joy.

"Wha-hahaha...I did it! I won!" Rafael shouted as he threw both arms into the air enthusiastically, and blew generous wide-armed kisses towards the adoring crowd. He was step closer to his goal, one day closer to finding his father and confronting him about the past! But for now, he was gonna celebrate!

The pain stopped for Matthew as Rafael got to his feet and was declared the winner. Matthew dragged himself to sit on the outside of the apron and closed his eyes as his opponent celebrated. His messy debut, his failed ambush on Casimir at the gym, the humiliation of the match with Kamo, the attack in his own home by both men, and now losing to the rookie....it was all building up in his mind, he had been nothing but a pushover his entire time he had been here, and something in Matthew finally snapped.

He screamed out in anger as he ripped his t-shirt off and threw it to the ground, before pushing over the ring steps and beginning to pull out weapons out under the apron before tossing them around ringside in a fit of anger. He ran his hands through his hair as his eyes became deeply bloodshot, he had officially lost it. Looking around, trying to find whatever he could destroy, his eyes suddenly focused on Rafael, who was blowing kisses to the crowd and celebrating with that goofy expression on his face. Matthew wanted to beat this guy within an inch of his life.

He sprung into the ring, the pain in his arm now completely ignored due to his frenzied adrenaline, and ran straight up to Rafael and wrapped his hands on his throat as he pushed him back against the ropes as he tried to squeeze the life out of him. "DO YOU KNOW WHO THE FUCK YOU'RE MESSING WITH?!? IS THIS SOME KIND OF GAME TO YOU?!" He shouted directly in his face, his red eyes staring directly at him as his teeth clenched together.