Start of a Rivalry

Say what she liked about Masuyo but there was no hesitation whatsoever before the newcomer joined her in the ring. Sure, the other fighter was annoyingly chatty as far as Alicia was concerned, but there was a familiar and reassuring eagerness to her movements.

Alicia wasn’t the only one who wanted, yearned for this match already.

If anything, that made her hungrier.

Admittedly, part of her still felt she was being mocked and loathed it. But she couldn’t be sure, not when any mockery was thoroughly cloaked in this constant suggestion that she needed the help for her match.

As if Masuyo was likely to do anything to prepare her for Valley Doll.

”Don’t worry about my match,” Alicia advised, rolling her shoulders as she made sure she was good and limber, ”This is just for fun.”

Still, the newcomer had a valid question and she gave it a moment’s pause before she continued.

”Alright, you said you’re from MMA too? Ok, then we’ll fight to first submission. No pins, no KOs.”

The redhead’s smile stretched wide into the near demonic slash of a smirk anyone who’d seen her in the ring would recognise. Judging purely by her impressive physique, her stance and her confidence, Masuyo held the promise to be a truly entertaining opponent and Alicia’s excitement practically blazed from her violent eyes.

Friction held no shortage of interesting foes but it’d been a while since she’d taken on someone with a similar background to her own.

”Don’t disappoint me, Demon of Shibuya. Show me everything you’ve got.”

With that, she slid into her own fighting stance.

”Ready?”

To be honest, Masuyo was feeling a little relieved when Alicia made the match conditions. She wasn’t afraid to fight to go all out and play to their strengths. No pins or knockouts. Fight until you drop. Pure fun. Great. This really was going to be a good spar. In fact, it felt like something had changed. There was blood in the air. Alicia looked as though she was getting more and more into this. Her spine shivered when she saw her face grow a wicked smirk.

Oh, I like you.

It had been a while since Masuyo felt this way. So excited. So eager. Now she had to impress her. The feeling in the air was changing drastically with each second. The aura emanating from the ring was foreboding. Thick and heavy. Masuyo clenched her fists and raised them to her face. A wide smile adorned her face as she felt her entire body tense. It almost hurt even. No need to worry about that, though. Time to go.

“Oh yeah! Ready!”

Now there was the problem of starting off. Masuyo loved being the first to strike, but she couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated. No, maybe just cautious. She wasn’t scared, quite the opposite. It was taking a lot to keep herself from flying across the ring towards her. She had to gauge her opponent first. What should she do? What should she do? How should she start? Her mind couldn’t settle on anything. So she did what she did best. Improvise.

With a pounce, she charged towards Alicia, fist cocked behind her. Masuyo could feel the air snap as she lunged forward.

“Hoohyah!”

Throwing a fist towards her opponent, she’d attempt to slowly build up into a flurry to test her guard. This woman clearly wasn’t stupid and likely as strong as he looked, but did she have the raw power and aggressiveness she’d expect from another MMA specialist? It was time to find out, and she had a feeling she wasn’t about to be disappointed.

The newcomer’s declaration that she was ready was met by a nod from Alicia, her stance tightening fractionally.

”Then go!”

Some of those watching might have expected the two to immediately lunge at each other given how visibly eager both women were for the battle.

They were destined to be disappointed. For a heartbeat, neither moved.

And then Masuyo leapt forward, fist raised.

At almost the same moment, Alicia swept forward. Unlike Masuyo, she kept her feet low, whisking them over the mat in a slick shuffle that still carried her towards the inevitable collision at a fast pace.

Neither woman, it seemed, was inclined to hang back and let their opponent have the first move. They wanted to attack.

With her fist already up, it wasn’t any surprise that Masuyo got her shot in before Alicia. Her punch came rocketing in, though it wasn’t clear where it was aimed. Instead of taking any chances, Alicia went to parry it, pushing her own forearm inside Masuyo’s to redirect the blow into empty space.

The Demon’s upper body definition was impressive – though Alicia had every confidence that her legs could outmatch her challenger’s just like they had every woman she’d met so far in Friction, one glance at those biceps had told her that playing strength against strength there was less of a winning proposition.

Still, none of that stopped her striking back and hard.

But where Masuyo’s attack had come from her fists, Alicia’s was delivered courtesy of the British woman’s powerfully thick thighs. Muscle tensed and hardened in the instant before the kickboxer launched her leg up on a trajectory that would plant her knee solidly in Masuyo’s well-muscled belly.

If Masuyo had held back rather than charging in, it’d have been a kick instead but the redhead was more than happy to play this game instead. She wanted to see what her opponent brought to the table and how better than this to do just that?

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t a little unsure of herself. Closing the distance was the easy part, the challenge came in actually getting around her guard. Masuyo was eager and naturally aggressive from the start of most matches, but in this case, she was careful not to get too ahead of herself. This kickboxer looked dangerous and sent off all of her warning lights. Her whole body was sending danger signals even as she threw the first punch.

Turns out those instincts weren’t far off. The woman deflected her strike before it go too close. Not that it was a huge surprise, really. A number of matches in the past had her up against people as sharp and quick as the one in front of her now. She’d only got a bit of that earlier spar, but Masuyo had no doubts her strength. The problem now was seeing how she would retaliate. That lower body had caught her attention early on.

Playing it safe, she went with the momentum of the parry. In that same instant, she saw the knee heading toward her stomach. Ah, that made sense. Quick and effective. She'd been on the receiving end of that counter more than a couple of times. But someone with legs like those? She couldn't afford that this early on.

Ignoring the instinct to back away, she followed through with the motion. Pulling her parried arm back, past her shoulder, and twisting her body in a sidestep. Her pronounced abdominals tensed as she just narrowly avoided a direct hit. She winced against the pain as the strike grazed her side, sending ripples across her skin. But she’d taken worse and bore with it.

Having sidestepped the attack, she took the opportunity to counter as quickly as she could. Stopping her leg behind her as she spun to the side, Masuyo would snap it right back, sending it careening towards her midsection hoping to catch her before she recovered. Shifting her entire weight into the strike, she’d aim to push the redhead back to make some distance. Those long legs aside, her opponent had a height and reach advantage against her. She’d need as much breathing room as she could muster to avoid whatever strikes came her way.

Of course, that would rely on Alicia for the most part. Something told her she wasn’t going to stay on the retreat if it got to that point.

Masuyo, however much of a Demon or not she’d turn out to be, wasn’t just a fitness freak.

That was clear from the early beats of this spar. The punch had been crisp but it was the way Masuyo sidestepped the knee that Alicia threw in her direction that confirmed this newcomer did indeed know something about fighting.

Awesome.

Alicia was so hungry for this fight that she would have been both angry and disappointed to find out that the other woman couldn’t back up her big talk.

Instead, she had a fight on her hands. Now, true, her knee hadn’t missed entirely but it had just been a grazing hit instead of a direct blow. Having seen Masuyo’s abs, Alicia was certain that it’d take a direct strike to really impact that six pack though part of her was already curious.

Curious to see how long the local fighter would last once the redhead got her in her bodyscissors.

That was getting ahead of herself a bit however, as proven when Masuyo retaliated.

Alicia had barely got her own foot back on the ground when her opponent’s leg was hurtling her way, aimed solidly at her belly. That gave her no time at all to dodge, her stance still settling back in, meaning that all she could do…

Was block, taking the kick to her forearms instead of her midriff with a wince, and taking several steps back. Unsurprisingly, there’d been real power to that kick. It had hurt. If it had hit home properly, it'd probably have winded her.

Not that Alicia intended to let it stop her. Keeping inside her own striking range, she swung her leg back up and around, looking for all the world like she was aiming for a roundhouse kick.

Only, as her leg came across, she coiled it back in and suddenly snapped it back out, turning the feinted roundhouse into a solid side kick of her own aimed at Masuyo’s centre-of-mass.

She’d trade kicks all day.

Masuyo gave a relived sigh when she saw Alicia take a few steps back.

She’d actually been skimping on her lower body training as of late. Not to mention that kick was a bit haphazard, so it was good to see what progress she’d made up to now hadn’t rusted away. Her leg came back down with a firm slap against the canvas as she readied herself.

Although, it probably wasn’t the best idea to give this woman any ideas. Trading blows with legs like those could only mean trouble. Even with equal amounts of power, her pair looked durable enough to win out of any clash they got into. Yeah, better to play this safe.

It seemed like the redhead was ready to return the favor. The moment she regained her footing, Alicia came back at her with a roundhouse kick of her own. Masuyo raised her arms to one side of her head and ducked slightly, doing her best to avoid a direct collision as the leg came bearing down on her.

Only it didn't come. Her leg suddenly pulled back and came again twice as strong right at her, striking quick as a cobra towards her midsection. The movement was so fluid she hadn’t even really registered for a second until she saw that leg bent back and ready to go. It was well-timed, too. She’d pulled it back at just the right moment. Got it just close enough to get even an experienced practitioner like Masuyo off guard.

She had almost forgotten. Kickboxing. Those legs weren’t just trained and made stronger for the sake of being strong. They were practiced. The movement was snappy and quick. It flowed like silk, moving from one side to the other until it found its place and speedily headed towards Masuyo’s center. Her immediate reaction was to jump back and get some distance. Would have been better to block it, or parry it, or pretty much do anything else.

Instead, the Demon got maybe a good inch apart before the kick connected. A bit of spittle flew out of her mouth as she skidded back a few feet and regained her footing. The leap helped a little. Didn’t hit her squarely, didn’t double her over, but still, hurt like a bitch.

She chuckled a bit. She was getting a taste for just what kind of fight she was in for. An uphill struggle. Nothing easy. Not at all. Just the way she liked it. Her body shook feverishly, tensed, then relaxed. One strong action after the other. Her face relaxed for but a second before meeting her opponent with a wide smirk. Things were just getting started.

Couldn’t afford to be caught in a corner just yet, though. Edging close and closer towards the kickboxer, she’d close the distance and send a few feints of her own towards the redhead's face before going low as hard as she could, digging in as many strikes to her abdomen as she could. Doubt she would come away unscathed, but she’d make sure to give as good as she was got.

Really, there were only two ways Masuyo was going to save herself. One was a solid block, the sort that took both arms crossed and braced, in short exactly the sort of thing she couldn’t do with her arms beside her head.

The other involved moving and, really, she had only one way to go. Forward was suicidal, up or down wouldn’t clear the gap in time and going to either side was dubious. The only way she had even a chance of taking the sting out of this one was by going straight back as far as she could.

It therefore spoke well for her instincts and training that she’d done just that.

Still, Masuyo had been close and Alicia had long legs. So even that way, it wasn’t enough. But it still meant that what could have doubled her over merely staggered her. After all, if two objects were going in the same direction, any collision was only as powerful as the difference between their speeds.

Basics.

So Masuyo was still standing, albeit looking a tiny bit pained.

Alicia met the other fighter’s smirk with her own and started to close the distance again.

Only for it to be her turn to fall for a feint albeit, in Alicia’s defence, you couldn’t ever just ignore a threat to your face.

So her hands went up to shield her head and, as a result, she caught a flurry of hits to her abdomen. Toned and solid rather than etched with abs like Masuyo’s, the redhead wheezed, before throwing back a flurry of her own – vicious forearm and elbow strikes to distract followed by a sharp kick aimed at the inside of the knee in an attempt to drop her opponent down to kneeling.

Nobody had to tell her to be careful.

Alicia may not have gotten the power she wanted from that kick, but Masuyo caught enough with a glimpse to know she was lucky to avoid it. Sure, they didn’t look too bad when you were standing across from them. Thick, tight. More or less what you’d expect from a mixed martial artist if their strategy went that direction. But then you got into the action. And when she saw the contours of her thighs, the expansion of the quads, the surging power pulsing down the shin as it came rocketing towards her…

There was no need to be told twice. She was eager. She was psyched. But she was damn careful when she got back into the kickboxer’s range to throw those feints.

It seemed as though her caution had paid off, too. Alicia brought her guard up, so the Demon went low. Her fists dug into the woman’s taut abs, ravaging her midsection with a few well-placed strikes. The sound of smacking flesh kissed her ears as she felt the muscle soften against her knuckles, earning a rough wheeze from her adversary. Masuyo’s smirk grew even wider as the corners of her lips crooked and twisted from ear to ear.

She was just about to deliver another blow when an elbow knocked her upside the head. Her body reacted immediately, bringing an arm up to either side of her head to defend against the onslaught. Even so, Alicia was managing to beat her back, with one strike after another keeping her down. Damn. Those legs were in a league of their own, but the arms weren’t far off either. This woman certainly didn’t slack on her training, whatever routine she had.

“Dang…”

Oh, right. Kickboxing. Talk about an all-rounder.

This wasn’t a good position to be in. Masuyo was just about to withdraw when one of the woman’s legs came back to haunt her, taking out the Demon’s balance with one good shot to the back of the knee. Even so, she kept her guard up and did her best to absorb whatever strikes came her way as she kept on one knee. Things were going from bad to worse, and she needed a change of speed before Alicia got any ideas.

Looking to turn her position against her, Masuyo would lunge forward and wrap her arms around Alicia’s leg and wrench it out from under her. Having managed that, she’d wedge the leg between her thighs and bring the formidable Brit down with a single leg takedown. That’d open her up for a mount and free up some strikes to the face. Hopefully.

This was fun. This was fun. So much fun.

Alicia just couldn’t articulate how much enjoyment she was deriving from this, from the challenge that Masuyo was giving her and a challenge that was very much on an equal basis and with skills similar to her own.

With Masuyo now down on a knee, the redhead didn’t waste any time. Either in general or by throwing strikes at her solid guard. No, she planted her hands on Masuyo’s shoulders, drew back her knee and was about to demolish that guard when the other woman promptly turned the tables.

In fact, with what she’d done, the British fighter had made it easier for her opponent to pull off the takedown that followed.

Hitting the mats, Alicia found herself in any mixed martial artist’s least favourite position bar a submission. She was down on her back with an aggressive, able opponent who was on the verge of scoring a full mount. What Masuyo would do with that position… Well, the redhead didn’t know but she suspected – if the other fighter wanted her down there – it would be painful.

The first thing that she had to do was quite simple but she had to do it now, before Masuyo swarmed up and got on top of her. Then it would become much harder to dislodge the Demon than if she acted now. Not impossible but considerably more difficult and a lot more dangerous, risking giving up her back and that was the last thing Alicia wanted to do.

She needed to make her move here. Now. This was where so many fights were won or lost, not with the submission but by whoever worked position better when the fight went to the ground.

Masuyo was on top already with one of Alicia’s legs trapped between her own. Before she could scoot up, Alicia did her best to clasp her own legs together, returning the favour by trapping one of Masuyo’s legs between her own thicker thighs.

If she could, it wouldn’t help her with being trapped underneath but it would prevent the Demon turning her already good position into a dominant one. And that was a start.

At the same time, the redhead brought her arms up to shield her face, anticipating punches coming her way regardless of whether her defensive measure was a success or not.

A slight breath of relief left her cheeks when she felt Alicia capsize.

The execution may have looked perfectly timed to one of the onlookers at ringside, but the sweat draping past Masuyo’s brow would tell the true story. It was a stroke of luck that the kickboxer had lifted her leg off the ground when she went for the tackle. Feeling the woman’s hands on her shoulders sent a tingle down her spine, prepping her entire body for the incoming danger. If she had been even a second late on getting a hold on that leg, there would have been a painful surprise waiting for the Demon’s pretty face.

But she did manage it, and the Brit fell to the ground in short order. The corner of Masuyo’s mouth twitched slightly, threatening to break into a wicked grin. With her hands on Alicia’s waist, she’d spring forward...only to be caught and pinned in place by the shin. She looked up to see the woman turtle up.

It may have looked bad for the redhead at first, of course, with an equally strong opponent bearing down on her. Fists clenched and ready to strike. But Masuyo was immobilized. She could throw punches all she wanted. The moment Alicia figured out how to deal with them, or at the very least endure them long enough, there wouldn’t be any other options. Hell, from what little she could read from this woman, she could probably turn the position around on Masuyo in an instant. Couldn’t risk that quite yet.

She had to get that leg free.

Curling her arm, Masuyo would lean down while raising her arm high above her head, planting a hand on Alicia's toned core as she lowered herself. With quick and harsh movements, she would swing down hard with her elbow, digging into Alicia’s left thigh with strike after stabbing strike.

Her immediate goal was to hopefully force the redhead to abandon the hold on her leg. Passively, however, she at the very least wanted to do some damage to her lower body. The pressure between those thighs was unreal. She could feel the bones starting to grate on her lower leg. These legs were going to be a bigger problem than she thought.

They’d be the first to go.