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

It was worth it. Getting his head kicked in, having her legs squeezing his head off, all the exertion and mad effort it took just to rise up like this - all of it was worth the price of admission when he came crashing down to the mat and drove Blue Imugi to it.

It was basically a kind of inverted powerbomb, and it did the job like one, knocking the smart-ass wind clean out of Blue Imugi’s sails. Her legs unwrapped from his neck, and Army drew in deep gasps of air, refilling his lungs in short order. Breathing again, good, good. But it wasn’t over.

He was still recovering, would need a moment before he could mount an offensive, but that wasn’t about to stop Army from doing something. About the only thing he could do, right now.

He squirmed about, turning in full to face her crotch in a more suggestive position than he would’ve liked. He made his interests clear, though, as he grabbed her legs and crawled forward, folding her small body and pinning her shoulders to the mat. Going for a pin, which the referee promptly obliged, dropping down and slapping the mat.

"1…!”

Things weren’t as fun as they started out as. That much was obvious to anyone who paid full admission.

The crowd seemed to have been getting a kick out of Imugi...well, getting a kick out of Army. Not that any of this was intentional. Guess she just had a flair for the entertainment business, whether it be singing or fighting.

His reversal of that entire premise, however, prompted a round of jeers to fill the arena. Not that she couldn’t recover from this. She probably could faster than her opponent if anything. It was a nasty fall, but it could have been a lot worse if she were as heavy as the guy she’d been choking out two seconds ago. Bigger you are, harder you fall and all that.

But fair’s fair. Imugi would just have to make sure to hit him twice as hard now for that.

Then he felt him squirming around, not unlike she currently was, until he turned around and stuck his face in her crotch. Cheeky. Then he grabbed her legs and folded her body in half, getting the pin count started. Less cheeky. The sound of the first count hitting the canvas snapped her back to her senses.

TWO!

Taking one strong breath, Imugi kicked her thighs up and popped herself out of the pinfall, slamming her butt into Army’s chin. Her body would fall to the side, letting her tumble away to the ropes right in front of them. Her back wasn’t exactly feeling up to it, but at least she could start making her way to her feet.

Army wasn’t sure if he wanted to get this pin or not. While he would’ve been happy with winning - and even more happy with getting all the people booing him to shut up - he did want a real match, loved competition, and it seemed like Blue Imugi could give that to him. He just wasn’t crazy about all the smartassing that seemed to come with that package.

It was a moot point, though. She kicked out. Of course she kicked out. She was a little, blue-haired, sassy machine. ”Okay.” He smacked his fist against the mat and huffed as she rolled off. ”Doing this the hard way, then.”

The first step was getting her away from those ropes, and doing so in a way that piled on the damage. He moved after Imugi as she rolled off, grabbed her by the ankle with both hand, and proceed to lift her up and swing her hard to the center of the ring, like he was tossing around a bag of leaves. No style, nothing fancy, nothing with a complicated name. He just lifted her up and threw her. Simple as that. Effective as that.

Wow. That really hurt.

Imugi had taken her fair share of falls before in the past. One time during rehearsals, when her backflip didn’t go according to plan off the high bar. Another time in the pit, when someone ducked out of the way of her jumping kick. Those sucked. This one didn’t feel much different from the rest right away. It hadn’t really dawned on Imugi between the adrenaline pumping through her veins and her desperation to escape the pin.

But now that she was up against the ropes, having a moment to collect herself, she was starting to realize just how much that dive had hurt. God, it felt like her spine had been rearranged. She liked to think her body was up to scratch for this kind of punishment but taking hits like that wasn’t going to be good for her.

She heard Army mutter something. Couldn’t really pay attention to him right now, what with this sting going up and down her back. She’d deal with him in a second. That was a probably a bad call, though, because the next thing she knew, she was yanked away from the ropes by her leg.

“WAAAAGH!” SLAM!

The idol’s back arched against the canvas, having the wind thoroughly knocked out of her. Her hands shot behind her as she rolled about, doing her best to soothe the pain. Hm. Taking this match any more lightly was probably going to kill her.

The audience collectively winced as Imugi was brought brutally to the floor, and Felina winced along with them. She was so used to teasing her cousin and poking fun at him and getting him riled up that she’d forgotten how freakishly strong he could be when he cut loose. That power was on full display here, and the blue-haired bomber was getting the brunt of it.

”Geez, Army!” She called out, giving the apron a slap to center her attention. ”What’s wrong with you?”

Army threw a quick glare her way, then to the booing audience, before he threw up his hands. There was no pleasing these people. He was the bad guy no matter what today, so he might as well roll with it.

Moving over to where Imugi had fallen, he reached down, grabbed her by her little head and lifted her up whether she was willing to come with or not. As soon as he got her up high, her pulled her up the rest of the way and hefted her up onto his shoulder with a deft pull, putting her into a fireman’s carry. Once she was tight in position, he began to pull down on her by the head and leg, attempting to bend her with a tight torture rack.

“Asshole.”

That was a good summary for how Imugi was feeling right about now. Getting tossed was always annoying for her. Made her feel less and less like she was being taken seriously. But she had to give to Mr. Rodriguez, he could throw a hell of a lot harder than most bruisers around Seoul. It was like she was being thrashed around by a grizzly bear. Had to give him props there, even if she did feel like kicking his teeth in right about now.

Now, she didn’t hate Army, per say. Again, she understood the situation he was in. This was probably his way of venting. Imugi just thought he’d a step above the rabble she was used to fighting in the pit. Someone who would deal with his opponents with a bit more respect, even if he was on the losing end of things. Either way, she wasn’t one to hold grudges, even if she was getting thrown about like a ragdoll.

Grabbing the hair, though? Yeah, that was a good way to get on her bad side.

Content to not take any more of this manhandling, Imugi fought the urge to squeal as she was lifted up roughly by her head. Her eye peeped open, looking for an opening, and quickly found one. Quick as a flash, she'd throw her hands behind Army’s head the moment he brought her close enough. With a strong yank, she’d try to bring it into striking distance before shooting her leg up, knocking her knee square into his jaw.

Was Army an asshole? Maybe. He could kind of see where Imugi was getting that idea from.

This definitely wasn’t him at his best. Hype e liked to think he wasn’t in one Tension’s main classes - not some dick who got off on hurting women and not some bitch who got off on women hurting him. For the record, he hadn’t meant to grab her by the hair like that, instead just trying to grab her head like a coconut, but he wasn’t taking too much care and he needed a grip. It happened. Didn’t think it was a big deal.

Imugi, it seemed, felt a bit different.

He gathered that much when she came to life as he tried to put the hold in, squirming around like mad. That was the way it seemed, anyway, as she grabbed his head, but it wasn’t as random as it all seemed. Her knee came in and crashed into the side of his jaw, hitting so hard he almost thought she would knock it loose. It was his turn to cry out, now, and he did so right before he let dump her behind him and stumbled away, clutching his chin while he went.

“Dumbass!”

Unbeknownst to many, Imugi had a bit of a mean streak. Like most things, it wasn’t easy to tell just by looking at her. For the most part, it was just her general indifference towards things. Not much could really bother her, rarely ever did. But when it did happen, dear god was it hard for her to let go. Again, couldn’t tell from a glance, but fighting just had a way of bringing these things out of her.

And Army just went and set off one of her pressure points. He should consider himself lucky that she wasn’t as into the idol scene as her counterparts back home. An idol's hair is her life. He would have lost his eyes, ears, nose, tongue and whatever else was etched onto that rugged face long before the jaw came unhinged. Imugi was letting him off easy in her mind.

Still pissed her off pretty good though. She felt faster when she was pissed.

So when she fell back down onto the canvas, she landed on two feet and with fire blazing in her eyes. Without missing a beat, she’d run straight towards Armando with his back still turned to her, looking to nail him with a single, strong back kick to the back of his knee. The moment that happened, she would already be in the position to zoom across the ring, bounce on the opposite set of ropes, and run straight back twice as fast. The second she was close enough, Imugi would leap up, grab the back of his head with two hands, and slam his face into the canvas as she came down with a running facebuster.

”Okay…” Army groaned as he rubbed his jaw, soothing it as best he could. He foresaw Aspirin in his future. ”I’m sensing some hostility.”

That was the polite way of putting it. The impolite way? Imugi was pissed the fuck off.

He was still reeling from her the knee when she came at him with her next blow, and he could’ve sworn that she was somehow moving faster than she had been before, going at blazing speeds. She crashed into his leg, a human battering ram, and brought him down to one knee. From the sidelines, he could hear Felina calling his way.

”Army, look out-”

But she was too slow. Before she could finish her sentence, Imugi was on the move again, coming at him from behind once again and busting his face into the floor. Maximum impact. Maximum pain.

It left him sprawled out of the mat, rapidly blinking as he tried to reboot his brain. ”Fuck…” He pressed his fists to the mat and started to push himself up. Started to. It was slow going, and given Imugi’s foul mood, he doubted he’d get far.

“Assface!”

Also unbeknownst to many, Imugi possessed a rather singular vocabulary when it came to those words of the derogatory variety. At least, when she chooses it to be. Sometimes its ‘ass’, sometimes its ‘dick’, sometimes it's ‘loser’. Whatever label has been placed upon the target of her ire, it is a fate they cannot escape. Not until she kicked them around a whole lot.

So Army didn’t have much to worry about in the next couple moments. Well, no. He did, but the name-calling would go away as soon as he was unconscious, bleeding, or both. Or unless he planned on turning into a comedian in the next few minutes, but it didn’t appear as though he was getting ready to brush up on his material. In response, Imugi immediately rose to her feet and looked down at him with gritted teeth.

She’d only take a few steps back this time. Imugi wanted to close the distance right away. Wasn’t wasting a second to dig into this guy some more. She’d zoom forward and swing her leg back, then straight back up, square into her opponent’s face with a penalty kick. Forehead, nose, lip. Didn’t really matter what she was hitting, so long as Army got the message.

Oh yes, there was hostility in the air tonight.