SD III: Mariko Ishii vs. Ninjette

The number of times the two of them had said "shit!" in the last minute or so would've made Mariko chuckle if the very thought of doing so alone didn't only add to the aching pain in her torso. Regardless, it was a clear sign that Kozue's dazzling, acrobatic offensive hadn't come without a cost. That also managed to buy Mariko time to take in one or two quick breaths, but that was about all she was able to manage before the ninja was on her again. Kozue's beautiful ass suddenly came back into view and hovered over Mariko's face just for the briefest of moments, then came down onto her before she could do anything to stop it.

"Mmmmph!!!" she groaned into her foe's rear as it settled over her face. Mariko had tried to methodically control the flow of this round as she had the previous one, but she'd still wound up having her face turned into a comfy seat for the ninja. The one consolation was that, in Kozue's haste to smother Mariko, the Japanese vixen wasn't as securely pinned down as she could've been.

As she squirmed beneath her foe, Mariko could tell one of her arms was trapped under Kozue's leg, but the other was free. Hoping to make use of that arm before her foe could secure it too, she slammed her palm up into Kozue's side in an attempt to shove her just enough to give Mariko the space she needed to slide and wiggle out from under the brunette. If it worked, she'd still be in this thing. If not, well...it certainly wouldn't be the worst way she'd lost a match...

The facesitting aspect of this match was turning out to be the hardest part, something Kozue hadn’t seen coming. It seemed sort of simple when the idea was brought up - all she had to do was beat Mariko down, then sit on her face. It wasn’t all that different from pinning someone, right? Just longer. And kinkier. Women like Mariko and that rich-bitch Danish chick always made it look so easy.

It wasn’t. Just getting into position was the first step, but keeping that position was the challenge. For a second, as Kozue heard - and, more importantly, felt - Mariko’s scream in her ass, she thought she’d sealed the deal. She smiled. Licked her lip. Even pressed a hand on her opponent’s chest, intending to get some groping in while Mariko went to sleep. A little friendly fondling. ”Sweet-”

The second half of her taunt was cut off when Mariko struck her from the side, hitting her right in the ribs with a stiff shot. The New Jersey Ninja squawked and rolled to the side, going to her knees as she reeled from the blow, giving Mariko the freedom she wanted. Knowing her time was short, Kozue grabbed the middle rope for support with her spare hand and started to stand up, but the wear and tear of the match was taking its toll. She was slower now, more sluggish with each step, having blown so much of her energy in just the last minute alone...

A small part of Mariko felt bad about being so rough when forcing Kozue off of her. Especially once she felt her foe's hand softly resting on her chest. Had Kozue done that just a bit sooner, it just might've been enough to drain the last of Mariko's will to fight and make her accept her fate.

But as it was, Mariko was free to breathe unrestricted again, which she did in heavy gasps while the ninja moved away to try to recover. Rolling onto her own hands and knees, and panting all the while as she moved, the violet haired beauty began to crawl toward her foe. Admittedly, this was partially so she could take a few seconds to enjoy the view of Kozue's ass without fear of being smothered under it. But she also wanted to sneak behind the brunette. Both of them were exhausted by this point. Whoever could fight past their own fatigue and capitalize on her opponent's was the most likely to have her hand raised in the end.

With that in mind, Mariko began to rise behind her adversary. Then her arms shot underneath Kozue's and tried to interlock at the hands behind her neck, before she'd attempt to bridge backward while dragging Kozue along for the ride with a Dragon Suplex!

”Guh…” Kozue muttered under her breath as she pulled her way up, fighting past the fatigue as best as she could. As much as her body wanted nothing more than to lay down and take a five-second siesta, she knew better than to give Mariko that recoup time. She needed to rise, needed to go back on the attack, needed to figure out where Mariko was before, before…

...before the sneaky little seductress could catch her off guard. Like she’d just done, as she wrapped her arms underneath Kozue’s shoulders and caught her in a full nelson - or what looked like one initially.

”Nonono-” Kozue went into a squirming frenzy as Mariko lifted her up, kicking her legs about, desperately trying to counter. If this had happened at the start of the match, she would’ve been able to turn this suplex into a flip and land on her feet, maybe even convert it into a Sliced Bread. Now? Now, all she could do was fly back and come down hard on her shoulders, landing rough while her legs flopped above her, leaving her all folded up.

It probably looked cool, at least. Hurt like fuck, but points for style.

Mariko may not have cared much about the crowds' opinions, but after they had cheered Kozue on so much for her spectacular acrobatics earlier, it felt a little nice to hear a loud burst of cheers in her favor when she hit her suplex.

If this had been under standard rules - and if Mariko hadn't been so damn tired - she would've held on and bridged into a pin attempt. And considering the state they were both in Mariko probably would've felt pretty confident it would get her the three count. But after she brought Kozue crashing down to the mat Mariko flopped down onto her back, and for a moment she just laid there, staring up at the ceiling and panting while her limbs sprawled out around her.

"Come on... Don't stop now..." she said to herself between breaths. Tough as it was, she had to keep on the move. So she rolled over, groaned as she reached out to the ropes to pull herself up, then eyed the sexy ninja once again. Mariko waited for her to start getting back up, and only then would lean into the ropes, letting the pushback kickstart her momentum and get her running toward Kozue. It wasn't exactly her full speed, but once she drew near her foe Mario hurled her right arm out, aiming to floor the brunette with a big lariat!

It made for a strange image, but Kozue could almost see a red, flashing light in the corner of her vision, a little battery with its life bar in the red. She knew  there wasn’t much left in the tank, and that, at best, she had three or so really good moves left in her. She was running on fumes, and she would have to make every move matter. No room for hesitation or mistakes.

Summoning every ounce of determination she had, Kozue slammed her fist into the mat and started to groggily rise up, doing her best to push past the pain from that hellish suplex. She planted one foot on the mat, then the other, looking up as she rose.

She saw Mariko coming her way at the last second, the exact last second, and only just managed to duck under the lariat and keep her head on her shoulders. She didn’t even have the time to breath a sigh of relief at her good fortune - Mariko had an opening now, and she instinctively knew this was the last one that would ever be presented to her.

Throwing it all into one final move, Kozue spun around...then spun around again, building up extra momentum with the added turn. Her body whirled, her hair flew about, and she ended the twists when she shot her leg out, high and fast, looking to hit Mariko in the head with a hurricane kick.

It was pretty safe to say that Mariko was no Bomber Kishima when it came to her lariats. That said, she still had enough power and momentum behind her to generate an effective impact... As long as she found her target, that is.

But this time her arm struck nothing but air. "Damn!" she cursed while whirling around to find Kozue. In retrospect, she probably should have been a bit more cautious considering a similar scenario not too long ago had ended with her eating a vicious Pele Kick. But in fairness to Mariko, once her eyes found Kozue, the woman was spinning so quickly it was next to impossible to see the foot before it slammed right into the side of her jaw. "Agh!" she cried out as the kick rocked her head to the side and dropped her right down to the mat in a daze.

Mariko was starting to have a love/hate relationship with Kozue's feet. Being smothered by them earlier made her wish they hadn't been covered in all that wrapping. But every encounter she'd had with them since had been significantly more...well, painful. And now it seemed they very well might have given Kozue the opening she needed to win this match. The crowd, certainly seeming to have picked up on that as well, rose to its collective feet. Some roared at Mariko to get up, some encouraged Kozue to finish her off.

But everyone could tell that, one way or another, the end was likely near.

As much as Kozue liked Mariko, even like-liked her, she had to admit: the sound of her foot colliding with the she-devil’s skull was one of the most satisfying things she’d ever heard. It was the sound of her winning, the sound of the match ending, the sound of her putting this labor of love to rest.

Assuming she could actually capitalize on it, at least.

She spun out after the kick and wound up, falling to her knees, only to madly scramble up a second later. Kozue didn’t even bother to look behind to her make sure Mariko was reeling from the blow - she had to be, or else she’d be up and bodyslamming her about some more. The ropes. She had to get to the ropes.

She made her way over to the corner, stumbling every step of the way, and began a desperate accent. She didn’t even know what she was going for, really. She could figure that out when she reached the top - for now, she just wanted to put one foot on the ropes, then another, get higher and higher, until...

"Ughh...." Mariko weakly groaned while a hand moved to rest on her aching head. For several moments all she heard was a loud ringing that seemed to only intensify her pain. When that finally did start to subside, pieces began to fall back into place.

She was in the ring, having a match. The sound of the crowd grew louder and louder. She heard "Higher!" repeated several times, and it took a few seconds before the meaning registered with her: Kozue was climbing into high risk territory once again. Mariko's eyes went wide and she immediately tried to find the death-defying ninja. A glance left, and she saw an unoccupied corner, and too far away from Mariko anyway. She rolled her head to face the opposite corner, and there Kozue was, just starting to push up from the middle rope to the top.

Groaning through grit teeth and stringing with the effort, Mariko pushed herself back to her feet and stumbled into the corner, throwing a forearm strike at the small of Kozue's back to halt her progress. "Oh no...you don't..." she growled beneath panting breaths, before grabbing the ropes and starting to climb up herself.

A few more forearm strikes were aimed at Kozue's upper back and neck, just hoping to further stun and daze her there. If it worked, she'd raise a foot onto the top rope, bringing the knee up right behind the brunette while moving an arm in front of the girl's neck. And from there, Mariko would drop off the ropes and use her arm to try to slam the back of Kozue's head and neck across her knee - a top-rope variation of her deadly Take Five finishing move!

”HIGHER! HIGHER! HIGHER!”

As much as Kozue appreciated her fanbase, she could’ve done without the screaming. It was hard enough to climb the ropes without the pounding in her skull, and it was growing worse by the second. You wouldn’t have thought it would be that hard to climb something that was only five or so feet off the ground, but it was turning out to be a monumental task.

One rung. Then another. Almost there…

Her efforts were stopped cold when she felt a clubbing blow in her back, one that seemed to travel all the way down her spine. She might’ve been able to push through it, but more followed soon after, and each one too more of a toll and left her dead and dazed and wide open for whatever Mariko had planned.

Which turned out to be...something. It was hard for her to really tell what Mariko did from her position. All she knew was that it involved striking the back of her head, and it felt like a damn brick had collided with her skull. Everything went black for a second, a flash-knockout, and when Kozue came back she was hanging upside on the turnbuckle as her brain erupted in pain. She couldn’t move, she could pull up, she could barely even think - though she was aware enough to realize how utterly fucked she was.