Meet and Greet

Oh, this was all bringing back memories. It had been a while since Bubbles had a good arm-wrestling match, all the way back to her middle school days, when she was just starting to get her growth spurt and really take off in height. She vividly remembered dominating the lunchroom, challenging guys to arm-wrestling match and taking off with the lunch money when they lost the bet. On a good day, she could bring home as much as twenty dollars, and now that she stopped to think about it, the desire to win was what made her go into the gym to get stronger, which brought her to body building, which brought her to wrestling. Amazing how things shook out, sometimes.

In the present, though, she was up against Cicilia, and the Juggernaut wouldn’t be giving up her lunch money so easily.

They locked hands. They locked arms. The countdown started, with Bubbles’ grin going wider with each moment. 3, 2, 1, and…

Bubbles took Mariah’s advice and gave Cicilia a good burst of power to start out. Nothing too serious, not her full power, but a good bit of force mixed with a stiff arm, in case she was met with full power out of the gate. She wanted to suss her opponent out for the moment, get a feel for what she was working with and tackle her from there. Slow and steady.

Cicilia grinned wider and wider with every number Sayumi counted down, tensing her arm on "one". She was thankful of her lover's advice to say the least, her experience with arm wrestling not going far at all beyond the bare basics. When one had a family like hers and no childhood to speak of, just about everything she learned she had to do so herself. As a result, her arm-wrestling knowledge either came from T.V. or watching other people do it when she was out and about back in her homeland... This would be one of her first actual games of it...

It was a simple enough game, just slam the opponent's hand into the table before they did the same to you but like with most simple games, that was not all there was. Positioning, stamina, all those things that came with actual grappling came with this one... somehow. With most of her wrestling, once the match was declared, Cicilia opened up with a good bit of strength, not all just in case Bubbles was pulling something sneaky or not, She didn't want to use up all her power at the start after all. It seemed the two of them had the same idea, however, their arms struggling in the center but neither of them appearing to make any solid ground on the other.

Bubbles was a real tank, there was no doubt about that... Running her over just wasn't an option but slowly applying pressure, though... that might just do the trick. Cicilia began adding a little more strength into her push as her eyes locked dead onto Bubbles' light blue ones, attempting so slowly shove the woman's hand towards the table.

Sayumi remained quiet. Too scared to encourage or cheer Cicilia on in case her suddenly speaking would distract her girlfriend. She couldn't see her face from behind, so glanced between. Their locked arms and the other two women across from her trying to gauge how well things were going in Cicilia's favor. She already saw a problem in their grip, but both women seemed to be playing it straightforward granting neither woman an edge on the surface.

On looks alone, Bubbles was the safer bet to win. It was hard to imagine Cicilia, as strong as Sayumi knew she was, would match up against a woman that size. Out the gate though, the two seemed evenly matched even without Cicilia leveraging her grip. It was an impressive sight. While she remained as quiet as a mouse, a little version of herself cheered wildly in her head.

Bubbles arm swelled more and more with each passing second, growing as she applied pressure. What little fat she had seemed to melt away, as muscle took on their bodybuilding form, turning how they looked when she was at her prime. It was rare that something, anything, could bring this much strain out of her, and she was enjoying every second of it.

She buckled down. Pressed her feet hard into the floor. There were gritted teeth behind her wide smile now, as she stared deep into her opponent’s eyes and relished the moment.

”Not bad!” She grunted through her clenched teeth, hissing while viens began to pop all through her arm. ”Let’s see how you do when…”

With a grunt that was more of a growl, Bubbles began to pour in more of strength, pressing hard to push Cicilia’s arm back and stop the Juggernaut’s momentum dead. It wouldn’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination, but she was confident in her power, and she began to dedicate her body to the effort.

”Careful, careful…” Mariah whispered her wife’s way, chewing her bee stung lips.

”I got this.” Some of her tendons were starting to protest, something that made her wince hard. ”I got this!”

Cicilia's arm bulked and tensed with each passing second she met Bubble's resistance with her own. Cicilia planted her arm down hard against the ruthless assault of strength, trying to use her arm's positioning as she was instructed to gain some kind of advantage. She had been complimented on her strength but the German didn't really have the time or the will to respond in kind, far too focused on the battle at hand. This was probably a sign she was losing when she couldn't even spare enough attention to throw out some kind of compliment... So maybe she should start throwing all her power out there at once! Her opponent certainly was! Cicilia's eyes widened as the american began actually pushing her back, her hand ever so slowly approaching the table. Not good, not good, not good! Alright, enough messing around... If she couldn't get Bubble's hand to smack the table now, she wasn't going to be able to!

Her smile curled downward into a snarl as her eyes flashed with competitiveness and exertion, The Juggernaut putting 100% of her arms strength into her counter attack! Enough of all the games! She had to win this now before Bubbles managed to gain any more ground! If she managed to at least balance the scales once again, their hands meeting solidly in the center, Cicilia would push herself a little harder, attempting to make the Virgin killer's arm BURN as it was forced towards the table.

Sayumi didn't normally bite her nails. It was a bad habit she kicked back in second school once she was on the decline of her stressful career path idol days. She found herself wanting to return to it now. Her hands clasped firmly as she tried to contain herself. No sudden outbursts, no pacing.

“Come on Cicilia.” She spoke low, softly, just enough to be heard with a bit of urgency. In reality this wasn't a huge deal who won this past bragging rights really.

Yes it would allow for an early advantage in their matches, in theory, but she was fairly certain would do well with boxing or wrestling first. While she would have the rules on her side and handicap Bubbles’ moveset, in a wrestling match Cicilia's bare fisted punches were lethal… she knew from experience.

Well. This was getting interesting fast. For a moment, it seemed like Bubbles had the clear advantage here - she had Cicilia going steadily down. It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t fast, but as sure as the sun rose and set, it was happening. The Virgin Killer was on the path to victory.

But there was a detour in the road, apparently. A speed bump. Cicila was going all out now, throwing her full power into it, and it was quite a sight to behold. Bubbles found her arm getting pushed back, back, back to the starting position, and now it was going down, down, down to the wrong side of the table. More. More. More.

”Nope!”

Her face turned into a mask of concentrated rage, hardening like granite as she pushed harder than she ever thought she was capable of pushing, putting everything she had into one final, raging attempt to get Cicilia’s hand on the table.

Yes! She was actually doing it! Cicilia's full strength (not for lack of effort) began shoving the Virgin-killer's arm back up into the starting position, making up for the ground she'd lost earlier.

"RRRGH!" She growled, managing to force her hand down towards the table actually, getting closer and closer with each passing second! Her arm was shaking, her muscles burning! It looked like she was actually going to beat Bubbles Burste at her own game of strength!

...Or so she thought.

Her opponent was MUCH bigger than her and even though Cicilia was a tyrant of power at her own weight, the bigger woman would always be stronger. There was simply more of her to contribute to the effort or fighting her than Cicilia had to do the same. Bubbles had more muscle, more height, probably better positioning due to their height and weight difference. What looked like a David-vs-Goliath moment was suddenly turning quite south for the hero of that story. "Never try to match someone bigger than you with strength since they're more than likely to win." T'was something her dad had taught her back when he was her father. Being the physically strongest person you know for so long just made her forget, she supposed.

Matching the Juggernaut's snarl, Bubbles began putting in her 110%, reversing the losses she'd suffered back into her own gains! Cicilia wanted to say she couldn't believe it but really... This was Bubbles. She was a juggernaut in her own right. The boxer fought with all her strength but it was like pushing against a moving brick wall... There was simply no headway to be made no matter her stubbornness. Her arm fell more and more towards the table until...

It touched.

Cicilia gasped, letting her hand fall limp as the Virgin Killer overwhelmed her, her might simply too great for Cicilia to meet with her own. It was also only after she lost did she notice how loudly her muscles were SCREAMING at her the whole time now that her adrenaline had worn off.

"Ow..." She grumbled, running her other hand along her bicep and forearm as if it'd soothe the burning. "Damn... You're a LOT stronger than I thought. Good match, Bubbles!" She smiled widely before leaning in, close enough so that Sayumi and Mariah would have to themselves to catch what was said next.

"I've also been thinking... It wouldn't be fair if you had to constantly focus on fighting differently than you usually do... I want to fight you at your best, no matter the... uh... risks. Is that okay?" Earlier she'd asked her to lay off the groping bit of her wresting style but as time went on, she began to wonder if that would inhibit her potential... Better safe than disappointed, right?

Sayumi slipped up behind Cicilia, wrapping her arms around the girl. She hadn't won, but that was okay. They had given her the choice of what match to have originally, which the boxer no doubt could have taken advantage of. She remembered sitting down with her the morning after the offer had first been made and listening to her torture herself over which to choose. Sayumi had offhandedly suggested they just do both and it started to form from there. She didn't have to try and make things fair, or in this case, unfair for herself. They made the choice to do so to be a good sportsman. Something that she respected immensely.

Leaning over Cicilia's shoulder she nuzzled their cheeks, turning her head to place a kiss on her cheek. "You almost hard her." She smiled sweetly, giving the woman a small squeeze. Her eyes settled back on Bubbles. "Good job! At least this will make the loss you're about to have sting less." She grins devilishly, tossing out a bit of uncharacteristic trash talk on Cicilia's behalf. She didn't have anything against the couple, quite the opposite. She warmed to them both almost immediately and was looking forward to watching the match. She didn't know what to expect from Bubbles, but knew Cicilia was a capable fighter.

Bubbles was a giant, a visible powerhouse. If she was wrestling her, Sayumi would almost certainly be terrified. She was pretty friendly outside of the ring, but if she actually focused up? There was no doubt she would be frightening. She had a large body built for tossing people around. In theory she would be slow too, though there was no way to tell. That tended to be a stereotype, but most of those were grounded in some reality. Many would see her size as an advantage. Sayumi didn't, not against Cicilia. It just made her a bigger target for the boxer's punches.

Bubbles was doing her best to keep her face happy and smiling, but she couldn’t resist the occasional winche and hiss while she stretched out her arm, trying her best to get some feeling back into those weary bones. Cicilia’s power was insane, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that, despite all the accolades, a fair bit of luck had played into her victory. If she’d held back too much or thrown too much away early on, if she’d gone too far on the wrong side before she summoned her full strength…

It was done, either way, no point in dwelling. Not when she had far more pressing matters to focus on.

There was the match, of course, and Bubbles was quite pumped for that. But through it all, she couldn’t ignore Cicilia’s words, and a eyebrow rose as she looked between her and Sayumi. Sweet, lovely, beautiful Sayumi, who worshipped the very ground the German walked on. The temptation to go all out and sate her carnal needs was strong, indeed, but she didn’t want to endanger the beautiful bond these two had. Didn’t even want to risk it.

”I...appreciate the thought.” She gave Cicilia a nod. ”I’ll have fun. But not too much fun.” She threw a wink Sayumi’s way. ”We’ll see. I can sting pretty hard, when I want to.”

Bubbles gave her arm one more, good rotation, rolling her shoulder about, before she pushed off the table and stood. With a fist raised to the sky in triumph, she proudly strode towards the ring, eager to get the festivities underway.