Giulia la Rocca vs Kyo Akamatsu

It was official, Giulia was definitely much stronger than her size suggested. That simple but effective DDT-- delivered on an opponent who was taller than her, he mentally added-- proved it. Wincing, he rolled back up to his feet, noting that Giulia had already done the same and was smiling.

He heard her make yet another flirtatious comment, and then she was upon him, darting low before he could counter and, much to his surprise, wrapping her arms around her waist. Kyo gasped in pain and alarm as he immediately felt Giulia pour on the pressure. And then she was in front of him, her arms sliding almost effortlessly around his waist as she locked in a bear hug. His hands immediately went down to Giulia's elbows in a vain effort to pry them free, trying also to keep his mind off the way Giulia's body was pressing up against his the way it was.

He quickly realized he was in a very interesting conundrum: Giulia was pouring the pressure on, demonstrating her ample strength as she squeezed him rather painfully. Because of her short centre and low centre of gravity, however, he couldn't easily throw her off, prying his way free would be difficult, and kicking her off would be near impossible. He could easily swing some punches into her unprotected head...but this early in the match, he didn't want to resort to fisticuffs so soon.

"Urrn...you're the one...who seems to want to get close..." he retorted through gritted teeth. "Let me...nnnh...return the favour." Kneeling a little, he would wrap his arms around Giulia's waist and try to lift her off her feet. Of course, he wasn't going for a squeeze of his own-- instead he would suddenly burst into a run, aiming to leap forward and slam Giulia back-first into the mat!

So, this was a little test. Giulia had gotten the vague notion of Kyo being slightly...pleased about being in the ring with a girl like her, a fact that could potentially be aggravated by some flirty talk. She had seen that kind of opponents before, plentifully to be honest, but would Kyo be that kind of guy? She wasn't really expecting to find them in huge numbers here in the AFW ring, and Kyo was honestly appearing too professional of a wrestler to actually be like that. But that was something she should find out about.

The bearhug, complemented by her comments prior to that, seemed to be a perfect way to test that. It also had other advantages. Giulia was well aware that her head would be left very vulnerable to strikes. Whether or not Kyo would be playing that card would tell her a lot about his style and principles as a fighter. Plus, it gave her the ability to show off her strength, also potentially causing some intimidation with it in her opponent.

Locking the hold proved to be easy. Kyo wasn't certainly resisting too much getting caught in the hold - but he didn't seem to be exactly enjoying it either. His comments were revealing that it certainly wasn't a position he'd be uncomfortable, or rather, too comfortable with. The lack of attempted hits to her head was also telling - he appeared to be quite reluctant to resort to strikes like that.

All in all, Kyo seemed to be very professional.

Then he started his attempt at getting out of the hold, and it was rather unique. Actually, Giulia was clueless of what he was going to be attempting. The Italian had planned to let him go soon and try something else of her own, but Kyo managed to surprise her before she could achieve that. Suddenly, Giulia's back was slammed to the mat and her foe had gone out of sight, without her even completely realizing what had just happened. But in any case, she knew she had to get back up, and fast. Despite her back taking a hit again, she did not want to be down when Kyo would be in her sight again.

After dropping Giulia flat on her back, Kyo knelt upright, wincing a little as he did so. Giulia had a powerful bearhug, one that he had found very difficult to muscle his way free from. The startling realization came to him that Giulia might actually be stronger than him-- it would explain why she had been able to defeat Killer King. All of that strength, wrapped up in a deceptively short package. If he didn't want to underestimate her before, then he definitely wasn't going to now.

Rolling back to his feet, he backed away to allow Giulia to do the same. He had gotten a few hits in, as had Giulia. They had both tested one another's abilities and now, hopefully, had a better understanding of one another. "Care to continue?" he asked with a faint smile, circling Giulia and motioning for another lockup...although he was hoping that his body language and eyes were enough to tell her that playtime was over.

Yes, the games were about to be over. Now that Giulia had established Kyo's professionalism, the Italian knew that the only way to defeat him was probably going to be proper wrestling. Fair and square. She was going to have to use her core strengths, namely her strength, properly in order to gain victory, and she couldn't afford to do any stupid mistakes granting Kyo any easy advantages. Essentially, she needed to stay on top of this one.

After getting back up again, the two fighters were once again giving each other a moment of reprieve. Or a moment of preparation, depending on how one saw it. And from Giulia's point of view, Kyo was attempting to use it for gaining some psychological advantage. The Japanese guy was keen on circling her, and the Italian knew it could often make the opponent feel a bit like a vulnerable prey.

She wasn't that easy though. No, she wasn't about to let Kyo play with her mind like that. Replying bluntly "Sure!" to his question appearing all unimpressed, the answer had no actual meaning. She had a completely different plan. One that would include approaching him, once again apparently for a lock-up, but then trying to down him with a surprising Lariat in the end.

Kyo watched Giulia as she approached, noting the battle hungry eagerness in her eyes. Like him, she now had a fairly good idea of who she was fighting against. Her blunt reply told him that what she had seen either failed to impress her, or simply wasn't indimidating her. Either way, she was ready to continue, like Kyo.

And continue she did, moving towards Kyo, seemingly ready for another lockup...only to suddenly spring forward. Hissing a curse, Kyo spun sideways, narrowly avoiding Giulia's sudden lariat, while at the same time trying to kick his knee up into his shorter Italian foe. If that managed to stun her, then he hoped to follow up, dropping back and kicking his boots up in the hopes of nailing Giulia with a sudden drop kick!

Kyo's plan might have been more of a psychological one, but Giulia's was a physical one. True, it contained the crucial element of surprise, but the Italian wasn't counting on intimidation right now. She was counting on pure strength. And she was sure that plan would work! She would down Kyo with her Lariat...

"Damn, that guy is fast!" Giulia cursed in her mind as Kyo had suddenly avoided her attack. Then again, he was probably experienced as well....but the Italian didn't have any time to ponder that before the Japanese guy's knee suddenly already hit her.

Slightly stunned for a moment, the Italian quickly realized she should probably turn to face her foe. But Kyo was again faster than her. As Giulia turned, she immediately got Kyo's kick delivered to her midsection! Dropping on her knees and gasping for air, this time Giulia could no longer fake that the impact hadn't hurt.

Kyo now had La Forza Italiana reeling, and he intended to take advantage of that. Rolling back up to his feet, Kyo moved up behind the kneeling Giulia. The fact that she hadn't been floored by that last hit spoke volumes about this tiny terror's tenacity, which simply meant that she could probably take whatever Lui could throw at her.

Grabbing Giulia by the head, Kyo yanked her back up to her feet before whipping her across the ring, not wanting to give her a chance to recover. As she bounced back, Kyo would rush forward as though aiming for a lariat...before suddenly spinning, taking Giulia's short stature into consideration as he tried to mule kick her in the chest. Assuming it connected, but didn't floor her, or if she caught his boot, he would be ready either way with a follow up spinning kick.

The match had started off rather pleasantly. Both fighters had made an effort to get to know their opponent's strengths and style better, taken their turns trying to outsmart the other with surprising moves, and basically warming the crowd up for the fight ahead.

Now, Giulia was realizing the actual fight had really started. Well, it was a rather obvious realization, the Italian had planned to start it off well herself with the Lariat, but Kyo had been lucky enough to evade it.

Or skilled enough, she had to admit, as Kyo had managed to down her with his swift kicks. Giulia knew martial arts were a big thing in Asia, and to her, the kicks of her Japanese opponent were going right down along that path. But that was all she had time to think about before she could feel Kyo yanking him back up again. And while Giulia was used to whipping people through the ring, this time she found herself to be the one being done so...

But that was OK. Once she would be charging back towards her opponent, she was surely going to be able to damage him in the impact.

And that probably would have happened if Kyo's experience hadn't started shining like it did. His clever plan managed to completely surprise Giulia. First she got stopped with the mule kick, and while trying to protect her chest, a spinning kick sent her right down to the mat. Briefly screaming in pain, the Italian instinctively started rolling away from Kyo, towards the ropes. She had to break the streak Kyo was having with his kicks, and she needed to reset the situation in order to take advantage of her own strengths against him.

Kyo's counter worked pretty much as expected, nailing Giulia with a spinning kick that dropped her and sent her crawling to the ropes. No doubt Giulia had expected herself to be the faster one in this match. but Kyo had more than a decent amount of striking power in his arsenal. As Giulia crawled away, Kyo strode after her, grabbing one of her arms as she rolled to the ropes to "help" her up.

Without a further word, Kyo would use his grip to whip Giulia towards the ropes, hoping to run after her and knee her hard in the midsection the moment she bounced back. Although a part of him knew he should just try taking her to the mat here and now with a piledriver or bulldog, a part of him still wanted to trade technical moves with Giulia, to see what she was capable of...

Giulia had taken advantage of her chances to briefly get outside of the ring for a moment when she had needed to in her previous night's fight with King, and right now it had started to look like she might have to do the same against Kyo as well. The Japanese was on a hard-hitting roll here, and the Italian needed a break.

Kyo wasn't allowing her that though. Right before she got to the ropes, he was already grabbing his hand, yanking her back up again. Figuring that his courtesy wasn't all that genuine, Giulia was preparing for something bad again.

She was surprised. Kyo decided to just whip her away to the ropes. And that provided Giulia with an opportunity to grab them and stay by them. Maybe she'd get a breather there... But as soon as she turned around to face Kyo again, she could see him rushing at her. In a moment of panic, the Italian tried to quickly take support of the ropes and jump up in place, hoping to kick, or at least knee the Japanese guy's midsection before he'd be crashing into her.