Makie Akamatsu vs Vita Cremashi

Vita's airborne attack struck with the force of a comet, knocking her off her feet and smashing her into the mat. Floored by the impact, Makie was left utterly stunned, her eyes closed as she lay breathing lightly under Vita.

"TWO..." Despite the screams of her fans, Makie still did not move. The tension of the audience was on a knife's edge. Was this it? Would Makie kick out in time?

Any second now and she’ll kick out, Vita thought to herself. She could already hear the crowd calling to their favorite to wake up. If she could just stay down for a second more.

“Three” the referee called. “Here is your winner Vita!”

A wave of relief washed over her when she heard the bell ring. Immediately she felt every sore and bruise that she had gotten in the last few minutes. She had just enough strength to roll off of Makie and lay down next to her. She lay there for a good few seconds, her chest rising and falling with great gasps of air.

After taking a moment to catch her breath her thoughts return to Makie.

“H-hey, you still alive over there?” she says, still looking up at the arena lights above.

Makie groaned slightly as her eyes blinked open, staring up rheumily at the arena lights in turn. Her body felt like it had just been throw under a herd of charging buffalo. Or maybe not buffalo, maybe a herd of corgis and...and she was clearly in too much pain to think straight. Little by little, though, she became aware of three things: one, that she had lost, two, that she was lying flat on her back, and third, that Vita was lying next to her.

"Y-yeah...." she groaned, shaking her head slowly to get her sense of bearing back. "I'm...totally fine..." A lie, of course, but she was trying to salvage what pride she could.

For her part the match had done a number on her. She was pretty sure she'd be feeling this match for the next few weeks at least.

“Good, great I really wasn’t looking forward to carrying you out,” Vita says, giggling at her own joke which causes her to flich. “Ow, do you always hit this hard?”

After taking a moment to catch her breath Vita stood up, wincing a bit on the way up. A decent portion of the crowd was clapping and cheering, and Vita couldn’t help but make a dramatic bow, but as she did so she remembered her opponent. She turned around and offered Makie a hand up.

“Come on, I’m not going to leave you lying here like this,” she says.

Makie stared up numbly at the proffered hand. She hated having to rely on her opponent's generosity like this, and would really have preferred to get up on her own steam. On the other hand, she was finding if difficult to move after all of those repeated slams and strikes she had taken in this match. Vita wasn't much to look at, but goddam could she hit hard. Swallowing her pride, Makie accepted Vita's hand.

As Vita pulled her to her feet, Makie wobbled a little before finding her balance. "Yeah, I always hit this hard," she muttered. "I just didn't expect you to hit just as hard back." She extended a hand to Vita, and smiled. "Great match. You were one hell of an opponent. And I'm sorry for all the mean stuff I said about your friend Kara." She gave Vita a conspiratorial smile. "Just between you and me, I think Kyo has a crush on her."

Vita practically beams as Vita compliments her. Even if her everything was sore how could she feel anything but excited. She gladly took Vita’s offered hand, though she was careful not to shake it too much.

“Heh, thanks, you’re not so bad yourself,” she says.

The mention of Kara however peaks her interest.

“You don’t say,” Vita says with a smile matching Makie’s own. “Hey you wanna hang out later? I might have an idea or two we could try.”

Winner: Vita Cremashi via pinfall