Blue Imugi vs. Armando 'Army' Rodriguez - Thunder and Lightning

And now Army had to ponder a question that he imagined all Tension men asked themselves at one time or another: should he feel bad about hitting a woman in the face?

A little, maybe. But, when that woman had gone on television and talked about laying him out, and when the crowd seemed to want that to happen with every fiber of their being, he found his chivalry somewhat lacking.’ So he had no qualms punching Imugi in thei face. Or, in this case, kicking her.

She wound up taking the blow on the forehead, a little higher than Army wanted, but good enough. The move did what he needed: bringing her to the floor, throwing her for a loop. Now, came the more important part, where he actually capitalized on the advantage he’d made. He had precious little time before she got up, and the opportunity of actually getting on top of her and keeping her down for a while was too good to pass up. He needed to move.

So he did the first thing that popped into his head: with a running start, he leaped forward, kicked his legs out, and came down on Imugi back first, trying to crush her underneath with a senton.

“Get up, Imugi!” “Keep fighting, Imugi!” “You’re the best, Imugi!”

I know. Shut up.

God, those banner freaks could be the loudest bunch in the room whenever they felt like it. In terms of damage, the boot to head wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever felt. Oh sure, it rocked her world like few kicks to the face by a two-hundred-pound Puerto Rican man could, but it was still far from the worse. Heck, it was a love tap in comparison to her fight with El Gigante. Never knew her head could even hold that much blood. Either way, the boys and girls at home didn’t have to worry. She’d be back on her feet in two seconds as soon as she got her bearings.

Until Army went and blotted out the sun. She had looked over her shoulder as she scrambled to get back to her feet, noticing his feet leave the ground. Huh. Didn’t know such a huge body could leap so high. Or so far. It didn’t take a very critical thinker to realize what her opponent was going for. Needless to say, that looked like a hard landing.

Yeah, not happening. She liked her spine, thanks.

Tucking her legs in, Imugi would push forward and attempt to roll clear of the senton. Assuming she managed to get clear of the blast zone, the Korean speedster would waste no time on capitalizing on his position the instant his ass turned to mush. Popping to her feet and bouncing off the adjacent ropes, she’d run straight towards Armando with a dropkick to the head.

Army was a simple man who did simple moves. Even though he’d been a wrestler for almost half a decade now, he still tried to stick to the less complicated attacks, preferring just about any move that could be explained in a single sentence. Bearhugs, boston crabs, chokeholds. That sort of thing

So the senton was right up his alley. Fast, simple to execute, easy to do as long as you had the balls for the crash, and there was big damage guaranteed.

So long as you connected with the move. Which did happen, in this case. Shit.

He wound up taking a hard bump on his back, shaking the ring with his impact. But it wasn’t the worst, thing, really. The match had just started, he was still pretty fresh, he just had to sit up and-

-take a dropkick to the face.

How she’d managed to get up so fast, he didn’t know, but it hardly mattered. She’d pulled it off, and the result had him laying flat on the floor, shaking his head from side to side as he waited for the planet to stop spinning.

WHAM! Okay, looked like she was in the clear.

In her mind, Imugi was breathing a sigh of relief as the ring shook beneath her feet. If there was one place she didn't want to be, it was under whatever meteor had just hit the canvas. And thankfully, she wasn’t. Instead, she just saw an aching Puerto Rican trying to get his groove back. A big grin wormed onto her face as she bounced off the ropes. The Korean came speeding in like a fighter jet. Target acquired. Bring the fire.

“Nnneeaoowww!” Bam.

Army dropped quicker than he got up. Although, she didn’t get as much momentum as she would have liked, rushing to keep him down like that. She was looking to just clear right over him and keep the momentum going, but her butt just ended up plopping down on his face. Lucky.

Imugi rolled off to the side and took a second to think of what to do next. It was a bit too early to break out one of the big guns. Rodriguez was big and ticked off, but he didn’t seem dumb. Better to just stick with the old reliables. His head couldn’t have been feeling great right now after that kick. Why not make it a little worse?

Sliding in behind his head, Imugi would spread her legs apart and lift Armando’s weighty head from the canvas. Smoothly, she’d guide it between her thighs before locking her shins together, using her strong legs to crush his neck with a triangle choke. Probably wouldn’t get her a submission just yet, but wearing the big guy down would make things easier on her. Always a plus in her book.

For some reason, Felina was reminded of pins getting taken down by a speeding bowling ball. Army had just started to sit up, recovering fairly quick - tough dude, couldn’t keep him down for too long, and all he’d really done was a glorified back bump, anyway. It shouldn’t have taken long to get up from, and it didn’t, but that wasn’t the problem. Imugi was so quick, even that little window was way too much.

Imugi hit. Army went down. Felina winced. ”Ouch, damn.”

It looked bad, and Army had no trouble saying it felt worse. Imugi couldn’t have weighed a pound over 130, but that was a lot of weight to come slamming into your face at 10 MPH. It hit like a haymaker, knocking him flat and leaving him senseless.

”God…” He muttered and blinked a few times, as the world came back to focus. ”Jesus fuck.”

He’d just started to lift his head up when he realized Imugi was doing that for him, pulling it between her legs. At first he didn’t think much of it, not seeing a big threat. But then those legs closed down him and started crushing. Started choked. Raw, concentrated power, coming down hard on his neck, squeezing the air clean out of him.

He went into panic mode on the spot, thrashing about, kicking his legs from side to side, pushing at her thighs in an attempt to get this baby anaconda off of him. None of it was likely to do much good, but losing precious oxygen wasn’t good for the reasoning process.

Huh, the thrashing was a nice touch. Really complimented the color going on his face.

It would be an understatement to say Imugi was really getting into this fight. It was a mix of the crowd cheering her on and her success in subduing a giant with only her legs. Did wonders for the confidence. It was good to see that the move into Japan didn’t take much out of her. The competition may have ramped up, but she could still tango with the best of them. Heck, she could stay like this all night. If she didn’t have a match to win that was.

Not to mention, this hold was strangely relaxing. She let out a yawn, a sheepish grin worming its way onto her face as she looked down at him. It was like an improvised reclining chair.

“You're gonna try and knock me out.” Imugi mocked, puckering her lips slightly and putting the deepest voice her little lungs could manage. “Then I’ll take you down with ooooonnnnneee hook.” She pumped her fist before letting out a chuckle. “Gotta say, Armadillo. You really got me on the ropes here. Wonder how I’m gonna get out of it.”

She ruffled his hair a bit, payback for the nose tap, before leaning back on her elbows. A pleasant view, to say the least. It was nice, but it also wasn’t going to be enough. She knew that much. Imugi didn’t know this guy for very long, or at all for that matter, but he was obviously stubborn. Stubborn guys always went the hardest. In that case, it was better to take things up a notch.

Shifting onto her side, Imugi would lean forward and grab her heel. Then, leaning back and arching her spine, she’d constrict her thighs, upping the pressure on the figure-four as far as she could. Seems a sore throat was the least of Army’s worries right now.

Honestly, Army wasn’t too bothered by the headlock itself.

Oh, make no mistake, that did suck. Mightily. Imugi was strong, far stronger than you would’ve expected a woman like this to be, and now that he had her legs squeezing him, he could see why. Her tiny body was packed with muscle, down to the bone, to an insane degree. If she’d been a foot taller, she probably would’ve been one of the strongest women in Tension, maybe all of the AFW.

Strong enough to crush. Strong enough to put him to sleep. It damn well would in a minute.

But that was nearly as grating as having this blue-haired harpy on his back, taunting him. Ruffling up his hair, so relaxed, all calm, like he was just a toy for her to play with. More than anything, it reminded him of his ex-girlfriend, which was a nice added bonus to get him even more pissed off. One way or another, he was wiping that smirk off her face.

Gritting his teeth hard, Army swung his legs to the side and rolled over, taking Imugi with him, flipping them both over to their chest. With one hand gripping her thighs and another pressing hard against the floor, he brought his head up...then his chest...then his waist. He rose up to a knee and kept rising from there, making a mad attempt to stand even as her thighs clamped down hard and strong.

Welp, this was a good match. Kinda short, but hey, she wasn’t complaining. Exercise was never something she was really fond of, so the less sweaty things were by the end of the day, the better, honestly. If that meant more time for her to draw a bath and snuggle up with some comics afterward, she was fine with just how easily Army was willing to get his ass handed to him.

Yeah, Imugi was feeling pretty confident right now, but it wasn’t anything personal. Mr. Rodriguez just didn’t take her seriously enough. Couldn’t blame him for that. It was something that was a practical guarantee with guys as big as this. Maybe he’d feel shitty about it afterward, maybe he wouldn’t. All he was going to know for sure was that a pint-sized petite poster girl just put him away in two minutes flat.

Live and learn, cabrón. Live and learn.

All she had to do now was sit back, relax, and wait for-

Oh. Oh, okay.

You know, when she applied this hold, guys just kind of, you know, went with it? Flailed about like a chicken with its head cut off, not unlike what he was doing a couple seconds ago. For that reason, Imugi assumed that’s the direction this match was heading. Nope. Not this guy. He was standing up like he was holding the whole world on his shoulders, determined to slam it back down into oblivion for all the shit it had given him. Nothing was getting in his way today.

Unfortunately, Imugi didn’t really plan for that. Heck, she didn’t have a plan for anything, but this was one particularly bad circumstance. Dropping down wasn’t the safest idea either. He’d probably feel her let go and be ready for that. All she could do was crank the hold tighter from this fairly awkward position sitting on his shoulders and hope Army just collapsed under his own weight. Safe bet, given how cold his cheeks were starting to feel.

Army could do this. Army could do this.

...he could do it, but goddamn, was she not making it easy.

He kept pushing up and up, and he swore it got harder with every second. The air depravation no doubt had something to do with it, and the poor position, and the fact that his skull was pounding with the worst headache of his life. His body wanted to just lay down and let it happen, even as his mind kept pressing on. So what kept him afloat? What drove him on?

Look at the titantron and seeing that nonchalant, non-caring face on Imugi. That. He wanted to destroy that.

So, up he rose higher and higher until he’d managed to get all the way up with Imugi playing a painful game of piggyback. Now that he was up here, the big question was what he’d be doing, what his plan was?

Nothing special. He just fell back, toppling like a sliced tree, coming down on his back and bringing Imugi with him to hit her with an Electric Chair. Not fun for him. Less fun for her.

Alright. Getting a bit more nervous about all of this now.

Not that she did the best job at showing it, really, but the quickening pace of her heart said everything that Imugi's body language couldn’t. Heights didn’t scare her, but falling from even this high up never failed to send a shiver down her spine. Her plan was to just let Army burn himself out. Let him nod off to dreamland all by his own self.

But holy crap, was this guy determined. Given that she was this close, Imugi could feel all of the tension in his face hit a peak. The moment it did, he was up on two feet, and the crowd suddenly roused to life. As though fate had given her hand, she knew exactly what Armando was going to do before it even happened.

“Oh, you better not be doing what I-”

Yup.

All at once, her body braced itself as she fell back from what felt like ten stories up, hitting the canvas with a nasty thud. Her legs unwrapped as she rolled onto her stomach, shooting her hands straight to her back. Her head was spinning and she wasn’t even sure if she could stand up anymore. Kicking her legs in a mix of frustration and agony, all Imugi could do was breath a few raspy breaths and hope the pain went away soon.