Giulia la Rocca vs Kyo Akamatsu

The ring reverberated as Kyo managed to get his counter off, nailing Giulia with a back body drop that slammed the lighter girl headfirst into the mat. He sat back up, his head still feeling a little woozy from that blow, as behind him Giulia kicked the mat in...pain? Frustration? H wasn't sure, but he had an opening and he was going to--

His train of thought was interrupted as he felt Giulia's arms on his shoulders, before her knees suddenly cracked into his back. "GAAAAGK!" he gasped, crashing onto his elbows as his back seated with pain. He had thought that he had just stunned Giulia, but, nor for the first time, he had underestimated the tiny Italian terror...

Had Kyo not had being dizzy from the hits to his head limiting his capability to deliver the counter on Giulia's powerbomb, the effect of it on the Italian would have obviously been much greater. But she had been lucky this time - despite the unfortunate counter of her powerbomb - and was capable of going right away after Kyo again. Even better was the fact that the Japanese guy wasn't apparently expecting any attack to get delivered so soon again at all...

This time Giulia was sure not to waste any time, grabbing firmly Kyo by his shoulders and pulling him down for the double knee backbreaker. And by the sound of it, its delivery was a perfect success. The Japanese guy was clearly in immense pain, and the Italian wasn't about to let that opportunity slip. Not again.

Puffing, Giulia got up in front of the guy. "This is it! You won't be escaping this time!" The Italian was determined to grab Kyo's head again and try another powerbomb on him. She just had to get this one delivered on him.

By this point, Kyo had collapsed fully onto his back, arching a little as his spine throbbed with pain. That back-cracker was well named-- it actually felt like Giulia's blow had done something serious. He might not know until after the match, but either way, he hadn't seen that coming. He had first underestimated his foe's strength, and now her stamina-- that recovery time of hers had caught him completely unawares.

He felt Giulia pull him back to his feet, and the next thing he knew, he felt her powerful thighs pressing around his head. He went a deep shade of red at the positioning, but alarm bells quickly rang in his head when he realized that she was about to try another power bomb. In his current state, he could do little to resist it...but given the strength that Giulia could call on, a single power bomb from her would be game over

Sure enough, he felt the blood rush to his head as Giulia lifted him upside down. He had to act fast, or else he was done for. Giulia may have had a strength advantage, however, but Kyo had something she lacked: height. Thinking quickly, he shot his arms down, pressing his palms to the mat, and pushed, hoping to unbalance Giulia and send her toppling onto her back, hopefully allowing him to grab her legs in a roll up pin! It was a rushed move, but he needed to do something to buy time...

It was all going to end for Kyo. He had been persistent, skillful and professional, but Giulia had had enough of it. The Italian had enjoyed fighting and playing with him up to a point, but that point had now been well passed. He had made her life difficult enough and evaded his fate long enough already. But what was worst was the fact that Giulia had had far too few chances of getting to show off her power on him.

That's what she was yearning for. Executing moves that highlighted her strength to everyone, and finally broke Kyo's will to fight back. That's why the Powerbomb had to be done. This time there was going to be no way he would be powering his way out of this one. Giulia was making sure of that, by keeping his legs firmly in check...

But there was one thing Giulia just couldn't keep in check. His brain.

Normally, the Italian might have appreciated that asset. Intelligence was never a shame, and clever thinking was always something to admire. It was just that this time, it caused her to fall on her back...

Frozen for a moment in astonishment of what had just happened, again, Giulia felt her legs grabbed. And before she knew it, Kyo had set her up in a roll-up pin!

"ONE!"

Kyo was, admittedly, surprised that that had worked, but worked it had-- one of the few actual moments in this match where Giulia's lighter frame had worked against her. Keeping a hold of Giulia's ankles, he folded her legs downward, arching them down in such a way that, inadvertently, the audience wound up getting a decent view of Giulia's posterior. Kyo was unaware of this, though, locking eyes with Giulia as he stared down at her from his sitting position.

"TWO!"

What on earth had just happened? What did Kyo do to avoid the powerbomb yet again? He hadn't kicked his way out this time, that was for sure. But how did he get Giulia into this position? She was on her back, and Kyo on the other hand was on top of her, staring down at her with a menacingly calm, collected and determined look on his face. And suddenly, the Italian realized the ref was counting. She was being pinned too! How was that possible? Could she kick out of this? She had to kick out of this!

"THREE!!!"

Gathering up all her strength, Giulia kicked out from the pin with all her might, immediately getting up to a sitting position.

But the bell was ringing. Giulia felt a moment of terror. Had she been too slow? How had it all happened so fast? Had Kyo just actually snatched the victory from her just like this?

The Italian spent a moment gazing around her in utter amazement, before burying her face to her hands when the reality of the situation started slowly sinking into her...

The bell rang. Kyo felt a sudden surge of relief at the sound, just as Giulia kicked out, her powerful thighs sending him rolling sideways. He had won. And not a moment too soon, he found himself admitting: he was struggling quite a lot in this match against Giulia's raw strength and power, often running into the trap of assuming otherwise due to her short stature. Had the match gone on, he would have been hard-pressed to earn a win against her.

Rolling up to his hands and knees, he heard the crowd cheering, and heard the announcer calling his name. But what caught his attention immediately was Giulia, sitting opposite him, burying her face in her hands in humiliated shame.

Without thinking, Kyo edged closer to the Italian girl. "Hey," he said, extending a hand to her, "good match. You actually gave me a really tough fight." One of the hardest matches I've had in a long while, he added mentally.

This was just so wrong. Only last night, Giulia had made her debut at the Tension arena. And she had done it in a fabolous fashion. She had been faced with Killer King, the infamous beast of AFW, and taken him down. She had won her debut against him. By all logic, she should have been invincible.

But no. Tonight she had been called out by an average-sized Japanese guy, and she had just been defeated by him. Admittedly, he seemed to be equipped with loads of experience and skill, but his strength and power should have been no match for Giulia's own. It was just so wrong. Somehow she had been almost constantly outsmarted by him over the course of the match.

Usually, Giulia admired intelligence, wisdom and good wits in general. But this time, the fact that Kyo was apparently possessing those qualities was just making her bitter. She wasn't really used to fighting against opponents who were more clever than her, and definitely not against opponents who were clever enough to somehow overcome her strength advantage.

Kyo wasn't clever enough to have some survival instinct though. His words, despite meant to be nice, came across as demeaning as they could get to the Italian. "You actually gave me a tough fight?" REALLY?? It was as if his presumption had been that Giulia was just a small girl who would be struggling against him, and now he was surprised by the fact that she had fared so well in the match, despite her loss. Oh yeah, and he was offering his hand out too. As if she was too exhausted to get back up again after such a lucky little pin as what had just ended the match...

Giulia's blood was boiling. But would she show it to Kyo? Would she turn her anger into violence? No, not now. But she did make a decision. One that included her paying him back all this humiliation that she had had to endure tonight.

Accepting his hand, Giulia's face was dead serious as she replied him with a stern tone. "Thanks. Congratulations, you had good luck tonight. I'll be in touch."

With that said, Giulia promptly turned away and started marching towards the backstage, with a look on her face that caused many to wish that there would not be any poor soul wandering in her way.

The match had been a rough one, with Giulia demonstrating, time and time again, exactly how she had beaten Killer King, and exactly why she deserved to be in the Tension ring. Even fighting in a somewhat exhausted state after her last match, she had kept Kyo on the defensive, slamming and striking him with such force that their size difference had meant nothing. He had only managed to get a win by the barest of margins, but all the same, she had fought a good fight tonight.

So why was she so mad? She was hiding it, but Kyo could tell in her stern expression and the fierce blaze in her eyes that she was upset. She was practically storming out of the ring, even as he watched. Was it something he had said or done? He half expected Makie, as usual, to be at ringside, berating him with a loud cry of "Baka!" as he did something stupid. He almost sighed. If he had insulted Giulia in any way, then he might never find out now.

As he slid out of the ropes and exited the arena itself, he couldn't help but feel that this was a hollow victory in some ways. He hadn't demonstrated as much skill as he would have wanted, and the victory just didn't feel decisive. The more he thought of it, and the more he thought of Giulia's reaction, the more he came to realize that this still wasn't over...