Makoto Aihara vs. Isa Kubota - Silver Medal

Enough was very rapidly becoming enough in this scenario. While Isa did let up on Makoto’s choking, the harsh woman likely only did so because she wanted to move on to something else. There was a point she was trying to make here, and the Judo Babe was being used as an exclamation point. Not something she fancied in the least.

Makoto started to grab the ropes and pulled herself, but she was harshly yanked back before she could get too far in that endeavor. She hissed as she felt the tight grip on her ankle, knowing full well what Isa was going for, and that she had every intention of carrying out the threat. Escape was a must - she’d used the Ankle Lock more than a few times herself, and she knew how devastating it could be.

If Isa wanted a fight, she would get one.

With a huff, Makoto tried to spin over to her back before the lock could be secured, killing it in the crib. She drew her legs in to make Isa come close, then shot them out with all the strength she could muster, trying to shove her opponent hard enough to knock her off her feet and create some space.

She wanted to hear that sound.

There was an unmistakable noise when tendons pulled free from bone, a soft popping sound. Isa Kubota was looking forward to hearing it again, it had been so long, but Makoto saw fit to spoil her plans, the judoka finally showing some life and fighting to escape. Isa resisted, fighting her tooth and nail to maintain her grip, but in the end Makoto drew her legs in close and kicked Isa hard with both feet.

"Oouufff!!" The impact was enough to send Isa backwards, knowing the woman off her feet and sending her to the mat, back first. The Judo Babe had earned herself that much needed breathing room. Isa, meanwhile groaned, beginning the process of rolling over and getting to her feet."So... you have some fire in you after all. Are you ready to fight this time, Makoto Aihara?"

It was a desperate move from Makoto, but that didn't mean it wasn't effective. She was looking to make Isa back off, if only for a moment. Space was what she wanted, space was what she got. Now the only question was what she would do with it.

She was quick to roll to her feet, and she saw that Isa wasn’t too far behind her, getting up with a tortured groan. She, of course, had a taunt to throw Makoto’s way, wanting to know if she was ready to bring the fight to her. Makoto answered her, too.

With her fist.

While she wasn’t renowned for her striking ability, she knew how to throw a good one when the occasion called for, and she felt this was the best time. As Isa rose up, Makoto rushed her and threw out a hard straight, aiming right for the center of her face.

Isa Kubota was ready, or rather, she thought she was prepared. She'd expected Makoto to charge forward in response to her taunts, but she was waiting for was a tackling or throwing manuver, the sort of thing one would expect from a judoka, not a punch flush to the face!

"Ahhhh!!" She cried out, reeling, the surprisingly strong blow catching Kubota off guard. She staggered back, lost her balance and fell to her back, jade eyes wild with anger and disbelief. A sun darkened hand reached up to touch her now flushed face, a thin trail of blood visibly oozing from her lower lip, where she'd cut herself on her own teeth.

"You.... punched me?" Her voice mirrored the disbelief in her expression. Isa had the supreme nerve to sound indignant. How dare Makoto raise a hand to her. How dare this washed up, disgraced loser strike her face so brazenly. Resolving to bash the Judo Babe's face with her own fists, Isa rolled onto her side with a groan, trying to get up after being floored by Makoto's blow.

For a moment, the world seemed to freeze. The audience recoiled. The commentators stopped commenting. Event the referee was taken aback, looking on Makoto with a mixture of confusion and shock, as if the thing she’d seen couldn’t have possibly happened.

All over a simple punch.

But it wasn’t just the punch itself, but the way she’d thrown it. It wasn’t like something out of a judoka’s repertoire, but instead looked like a move that would’ve been in Sista A’s wheelhouse. A rough blow, one that put Isa flat on her butt. Makoto was stunned, too, but for a different reason than just about everyone else. She couldn’t believe how good that had felt.

There was little time to dwell on it, though, as Isa was already recovering. It would take more than a punch to put her down, but Makoto had some other ideas. As her fellow countrywoman rose, the Judo Babe came at her from behind, reached around her head and put her in a tight headlock, lacing her fingers together to strengthen the hold and put the maximum amount of pressure on.

Her mind was still reeling, her reaction little different from that of the disbelieving crowd. Had any fan of Makoto ever witnessed so coarse and angry a blow from the Judo Babe? It was as if, for a scant few moments, she'd become an entirely different person. Isa had been taunting her towards greater aggression, mocking her country-womans lack of fighting spirit, but she didn't expect Makoto Aihara to actually follow through.

And of course, all of that paled in comparison to what Isa Kubota felt was a grevious insult. So this was going to be a real fight after all? That was fine. It would make her conquest of her judoka all the sweeter.

"Mmfh!" Isa's plans for retribution were momentarily stalled as Makoto came up behind her, wrapping Isa in a tight headlock as she tried to rise. She felt her dark features grow flushed at the insistent pressure, and her hands patted along the arms that gripped her, searching for weakness and finding none. "Still too timid, Makoto." She growled out through her teeth.

With that, Kubota continued to struggle to her full height, working to get her feet fully under her and force her way to standing despite Makoto's determined efforts to control her. If successful, Isa would waste no time ramming an elbow back into her enemies ribs, before reaching up to grab Makoto's head and drop suddenly into a kneeling position, seeking to drive the Judoka, jaw first, painfully into her shoulder.

Makoto had Isa in a headlock, but she wouldn’t go so far as to call it ‘just’ a headlock - she poured quite a lot of diminutive power into the hold, milking the move for all it was worth. She wasn’t going to deal any real damage, nor would she be the first person in history to score a submission with the move, but it gave her some time to think.

She needed some strategy, here. Isa wasn’t just some thug, she clearly had skill and experience, a raw sort that contrasted with Makoto’s discipline. While she wasn’t as strong as Zarya, she was clearly stronger than the Judo Babe. That had to be accounted for.

The headlock was a stalling tactic, and one that wouldn’t last forever, something that was made clear when Isa began to power her way up. Makoto couldn’t stop it from happening, and the price for her failure was an elbow in the ribs, followed by a heavy blow to Makoto’s jaw.

By some miracle Isa’s attack didn’t drop Makoto flat, but the effect was still stark. She stumbled back with stunned, staggered steps, until her back found the turnbuckle. That was where she stayed while she shook her head and regained her senses, hoping to recover before Isa could move in to seize control again.

For a brief time neither woman was in any condition to mount an effective offense. While Makoto staggered back against the turnbuckle, Isa was dealing with a sudden wave of dizziness that gave her pause and caused her steps for falter. A prolonged and determined application of a headlock wasn't a thing one immediately shook off, not when a Judoka had used the hold to its utmost. Isa's temples throbbed uncomfortably and the world, for a moment, took on a hazed, fuzzy cast.

Thankfully the effects were already beginning to fade, enough that the warrioress could propel herself forward, stalking towards her dazed opponent. Kubota greeted her enemy with a rising knee, aimed to sink deep into Makoto's belly as she closed the distance. If that blow struck home, Isa Kubota would move on to the next stage of her attack. She was still hurting from the punch that stunned the audience almost as much as Isa herself. If the Judo Babe wanted a brawl, that could be easily arranged.

Grabbing for Makoto's hair with one hand and seeking the back of the judokas gi with the other, Isa would try to turn towards the ring ropes and shove her rival right through the middle ropes and out of the ring.

Makoto hissed as she staggered away, and it wasn’t solely from the pain and the mounting dizziness. For the first time she could remember, she didn’t just want to wrestle, she wanted to fight. She wanted to beat Zarya and send her a message, show her exactly the sort of thing that was in store for her when Makoto got to her.

And Makoto would get to her. She wasn’t sure how yet, or how this match brought her closer to that goal, but it was going to happen.

For now, her focus was on bringing the fight to Isa, and she tried to clear her head enough to do that - tried, but was much too slow. Her countrywoman was on her before she had the chance, hitting her with a knee to gut that left her breathless, and the next thing the Judo Babe knew, she was roughly pulled forward and sent through the ropes… ”Gah!”

...and onto the apron… ”Uhn!”

...and finally, to the floor. ”Damn it!”

She laid there for a moment before she suddenly began to rise, shaking her head as she pushed herself back up.

Not for the first time, Isa Kubota lamented her current role as a paid thug. It was all so very beneath her. And yet even as she thought the words, a small part of her yearned to take this opportunity and run with it. Unbridled aggression was the proper remedy for so many of life's frustrations. She rolled out of the ring after Makoto and found her opponent struggling to rise. She loomed over her, jade eyes reflecting contempt.

"Makoto Aihara. Champion of the people. National treasure." She spat the words as of to mock someone undeserving on each and every honor given. "Shall we give the fans an up close view of your beating?"

Isa reached down to grab Makoto by the back of her gi with one hand and siezed the Judoka's arm with the other. After roughly assisting Makoto to her feet, Isa looked to whip her fellow county woman into the barricade that separated the wrestlers from the fans, hopefully with enough force to flip the Judo Babe over it and to the other side where rabid fans stood.