Chizuru Nagahara vs. Blade Uehara - One More Reunion

One, two. One, two. One, two. One, two.

The skirting sounds of her boots echoed down the hall. With heavy, controlled breaths, Chizuru bounced back and forth on her feet, looking down at the floor as she did her best to pace herself. Her long brown hair bobbed behind her, tied back into a ponytail and kept as tight as the belt buckles adorning her body. Physically, she was all set to go, just ready to burst out from around that corner like she always did and jog happily down to the ring.

The ring.

She stopped and steadily tilted her head up to the ceiling, letting out a deep sigh towards the flickering light above her.

So long.

Those two words held so much meaning to her now in such a short amount of time. It had been “so long” since she’d stepped through those ropes. The last time she’d done it, it was on her way out of the ring with Rei, riding the high from one of the biggest victories of their careers. The Cyclone Tournament had certainly put them through a whirlwind. She could hardly remember a contest so intense, even back in their Wrestle Angels pairings. But it was all worth it in the end. Hearing the crowd, shaking hands with the other teams afterward. A long and exciting future was in the store for them. Chizuru could just feel it.

And then...things just...stopped. “So long”, they said to each other. She’d thought she’d only have to say it once her in life. Having to do it again had nearly torn her apart. She needed time to herself, time to consider There were plenty of days where she felt like crying, where she probably would have in the past. Where she might have even given up altogether.

But she wasn’t the old Chizuru Nagahara anymore. Her closest friends may have moved on, but they’d want her to do the same. They’d want her to step into the AFW ring again.

And that’s why she was standing here now. “So long” as she did this, “so long” as Chizuru Nagahara was standing tall, the heart of Super Mega Death Team would keep burning! She slapped her cheeks and roused a massive smile from ear to ear. She could do this! She will do this!

“Nagahara-san.” A stagehand knocking her knuckles against the wall, peering from around the corner, yanked her back into reality. “Are you ready?” Chizuru took a moment to look at her palms, tightening them into fists and noticing they’d finally stopped shaking. A broad smile stretched across her face.

“Y-yes! Yes, I am! Arigato!”

Not a minute later, a series of strobing blue and white lights ran up and down the ramp. A futuristic, techno theme filled the arena, and plenty of the clearly confused crowd could be forgiven for thinking a new wrestler was entering the arena tonight. But, nope! Tonight had an even better surprise! Chizuru came running out from behind the curtain, hopping up and down at the top of the ramp with a lively frill of waves and claps to the audience, all with a perfect white smile to match. Wow, did she miss this.

Taking off the down ramp, she held out a hand for a long series of high-fives. Her pace slowed at the bottom as she went to shake hands with a few adoring fans, even throwing in a few hugs, just because. Turning her attention back to the ring, she slid underneath the bottom rope before popping up and meeting the crowd with one big flourish and a bow to both sides. She walked to the opposite side and gripped the ropes behind her, taking a couple squats and just waiting for tonight’s competition.

It just now struck her that she forgot to check the itinerary, so her guess was as good as anyone else’s. Oh boy. Hopefully, they weren’t too big. Big tuckered her out.

"...*groan*...I already told ya, the doctor cleared me for in-ring action ages ago. Ya don't need to keep worrying about me so mu-...Yeah...Uh-huh...D-Dad, I'm up in like two minutes and you're totally breaking my concentration!!!"

Pre-match rituals were one of those superstitious quirks that most wrestlers truly believed gave them that extra bit of cosmic luck that either ensured either sweet victory, or at least ensured their genuine well-being so that they could walk away from the match with nothing more than bumps, bruises, and a loss in their record. Blade regretfully never got to choose her ritual, as in it was actually chosen for her by her doting father who call her before every major match just to get an update on his only daughter's life and bug her about how she doesn't visit anymore.

Blade paced back and forth in her private dressing room and was already adorned in her wrestling skivvies with a hand on her hip with the other hand holding her smartphone to her ear. It turns out that a little over a week was all the R and R she needed before being taken off the DL. Though she had to attribute such a quick turnaround to her steadfast partner Risako's help with Blade's rehab. About the only positive outcome Blade could have taken out of getting bushwhacked by Beauty Ichigaya was that her and Risako buried all of their respective hatchets over years of bad blood and stupid mistakes.

"C'mon Dad, I'm gonna swing by Saturday for the game, we can chat than, alright?! ByeLoveYouBye!!!" Blade breathed a sigh of relief after hanging up her phone and tossing it into her duffel bag. Bailing on that conversation was the only way she was going to have the time needed to hype herself for what was about to come. She stood in front of a mirror...limbered up...closed her eyes...imagined Beauty's smug, preening face...and how much she'd like to shove her fist right down-!!!

"Uehara-san...Are you rea-"

"YeahYeahYeah, I know the drill, get outta my way..." Blade stormed by the startled stagehand knocking at her door before being pushed aside by the stomping W.A. veteran making a beeline straight towards the gorilla position. Her competitive fire re-lit just from that one thought.

Thunderous rock music kept the situation percolating as Blade's name was jaggedly projected upon the Titan-tron before the Aerial Artist came bounding out from backstage with her punkish smirk and cocky swagger still intact. A roaring crowd welcoming her back as she marched down the ramp before going into a sprinting dash that had her climbing the top turnbuckle from outside the ring. Standing on the middle ropes beside the ringpost, Blade than rocketed up both her fists in the air with one wrist crossing the other, her trademark hand gesture that the crowd mimicked immediately or simply took flashing pictures of.

Blade lowered and her hands and took a few seconds to scan the audience and simply live in the moment before nimbly hopping down into the ring. She strode to it's center and approached another familiar-ish face in Chizuru Nagahara. The German Suplex savant and perennial klutz of wrestling federations long since dead and buried.

"Still paring us Angels up, huh? Some novelties never get old, I spose..." Blade curiously uttered before folding her arms and beginning to curiously tilt her head while angling over to her side. She began closely examining Chizuru's left hip for several awkward and prolonged seconds before perking herself up back to a standing tall position. "Ah, sorry about that Chizuru...I was just looking for Rei and Kanai since you three were always attached to the hip. Not feeling jittery about striking it out all on your own, I hope..." Blade teased with a bit of condescension to her voice.

Chizuru was still making sure to keep herself limber as she watched the entrance, shifting her weight from one leg to the other as her body rocked from side to side with her hands on her knees. Boy, the anticipation was actually killing her. She hadn’t been this nervous since her debut. Guess ring rust was just as bad for the nerves as it was for the body. Hopefully, she really impressed after tonight and kept getting more matches. She wanted to be back at one-hundred percent as soon as possible.

Soon enough, her opponent’s drum-heavy theme song came thundering in, preceding her arrival through the curtains. She couldn’t make out the figure right away from a distance. Her opponent’s form was briefly illuminated by the stage lights. For just a second, she could make out a few features. Raggedy hair, purple a strong stance that pumped their chest out in a commanding presence. The Titan-tron clued her in well before she could piece it together, though.

“Oh...oh!”

It was Blade! Blade was here! She’d almost forgotten that she was part of this federation. Actually, she had for a while, but the feeling was probably mutual. Chizuru hadn’t been making any real waves herself, not since disappearing altogether after the Cyclone Tournament ended. Maybe that’s why they were being put together? Two career comebacks in one evening? That’d make sense. Actually, that was kind of cool.

As she looked on, Chizuru must have looked like an absolute child, looking on with eyes filled with simple-minded wonderment. Though they’d never really gotten to know each other too well, she did think Blade was kind of cool. She’d seen both her matches since the Aerial Artist joined, and sat in at a couple back in Wrestle Angels. The look, the attitude, those broke the deal for some and made it for others. The German Suplex sweetheart just so happened to be in the latter half. Her mood only brightened as her fellow Angel approached her.

“Yup!” She gave a thumbs up as her smile grew twice its size. “Only the best, though!”

Chizuru was feeling on top of the world. It was great knowing that her return wouldn’t be with a complete stranger. They were from the same league, which made them basically sisters. Almost. Kind of. Not really. But that was a greater bond than she had with most anyone else here, so she’d accept it for all it was worth. Less confusion, too.

At least, until the next moment, when Blade made things very confusing, looking at her like she had something on her back. Chizuru twisted her face, giving a perplexed expression as she looked to her left, then her right, then her left again, then between her legs, then grabbed her hair with both hands. Blade righted her the next second. Guess that topic was going to come up sooner or later. Suppose it was silly of her to expect brash tomboy to ease into it.

“Heh heh. I honestly don’t know, Blade-san. It sure has been awhile...” Her voice quivered slightly, eyes darting to the side for a second before coming back in force to Blade’s darker pair. “But I have to try! Super Mega Death Team is counting on me! Nerves never slowed us down, it won't happen now!” She pumped a fist. “I mean, if you can make it out there, Blade, I bet someone like me can!” She stepped forward as the referee called them to the center, keeping her hands on her hips and doing her best to remain confident despite the circumstances surrounding her return. “I’ll show it to you! I’m gonna fight with everything I’ve got! Don’t worry, though. I don’t slam as hard as Beauty-san.” Was that a slight? Was that just her being honest? It was always impossible to tell with Chizuru.

One thing was for sure though: her confidence wouldn’t be shaken this time. She was going to give Blade a match worth remembering! For hopefully less spiteful reasons this time...

To say these two didn't hang in the same crowd would have quite the understatement. While Blade was getting herself into nonstop feuds left and right with headlining matches against Risako, Mighty Yukiko and Chisato Sakurai...Chizuru here could always be seen chumming it up with her two partners in crime and being a part of the prankster trio that terrorized the locker rooms for years. It really was no different than high school, where you fall into different cliques on day one and basically stick with that one group forever. Blade had seen some matches of Chizu's and knew the former W.A. could go, but it was hard for Blade not to see Chizu as someone who may not have what it takes for a solo act considering she was never seen without those other two knuckleheads.

Blade never was one to mince words or dance around potentially upsetting topics of discussion. Call it a lack of internal censorship, an inability to grasp the fundamentals of social niceties, or just her inherently bratty nature that compelled her to push any buttons she could find just to see the result. In any case, it was a polarizing facet of her personality that put other people in two directly opposing camps when it came to how you felt about her. And Chizuru's noticeable lack of backup from the other two stooges in that group of theirs was an elephant in the room that Blade couldn't help but poke and prod.

But Blade was impressed to see Chizuru seemingly have all the energy and confidence in the world towards proving the doubters wrong...until Blade's smirk darkened into a narrowing of her eyes and pursing of her lips to the side of her mouth at the mention of Beauty. Normally this would be the part where Blade flies off the handle in a blind fury, but she knew Chizu didn't have a mean-spirited bone in her body. Someone as bright and chipper as her probably meant nothing by it, so Blade would give her a mulligan this time and just take it as being given some of her own medicine from mentioning the equally touchy subject of Chizu's missing friends. Still...Blade was gonna remember that Beauty crack once the fun got underway.

Blade rekindled her smirk with a slight breath before approaching Chizuru to meet her mid-ring, her right hand propped up on her hip as the referee explained the rules f the match off to the side. "Well, If I were you I would start to worry, Chizu. Because I'm about to beat you down as if you were that pretentious windbag." Blade oozed confidence as she punched into the palm of her other hand to help emphasize her point. "Now...how's about we see if you have what it takes to hang with the big girls, or if you're still just a kid who belongs in the back in catering with the rest of the undercard..." Blade than started to step back with the bell ringing immediately after.

Blade's punkish sneer never faded as she started circling the ring in tandem with Chizuru. Her movements were fluid and her pace was quickening with each step. She obviously wanted to showcase how limber she could be while throwing in a a cocky gesture by wiping her thumb off the side of her nose. The runaround would eventually come to an end as Blade stopped in place, hopped left and right on her feet, and then stomped forward for an attempted collar and elbow tie-up with their arms entangled and a hand clamping onto the back of Chizu's neck.

...what kind of match was this again? Hardcore? Tables? Just the usual? Chizuru had honestly forgotten in her excitement and her brain seemed to have gotten used to drowning out the referee's voice entirely. She didn’t display her confusion at all, but in the gears in the back of her mind had come to a dead stop.

That was going to make things a little more difficult. Suppose she could just follow Blade’s lead and see how she moved. See how she reacted to things, maybe test what rules she wasn’t allowed to break at the risk of the tomboy yelling at her. A little embarrassing, but that seemed like a safe way to play it. At least, that was how Chizuru intended to do things.

Her smile quirked somewhat as Blade went to spur her on, placing her hands on her hips and furrowing her brow. Unbeknownst to her, Chizuru always was a big girl. Her mom and dad told her so over pancakes the day before. She just didn’t always need to show it. Not with Rei and Kanai always around. Who needed to grow up when they were always with her?

But she was right in a way. Could she really make it out on her own like this? Forgetting the rules of the match before it even started? Looking towards other people? Was this going to be how her grand return started?

Suppose everyone has to put on their big girl pants eventually. Forget following the leader. Chizuru was the leader and could do this fight out all on her own. Chizuru puffed her cheeks and let out a huff, followed by a determined nod.

Chizuru took a step back as the bell went off. She rounded right to counter Blade’s walk left, letting herself rehearse in her head all that she could remember from the woman’s matches. As the pace picked up, however, her mind sped up along with it. She became less focused on her thoughts and more on just keeping up with the spry woman in front of her, doing her best to not give an inch. Slowly but surely, she felt herself being drawn fully into the match. Thinking time was over. Fight time now.

When the Okinawan dashed forward, Chizuru was right there to meet her. She tugged back and forth with the older veteran. She was tough, plenty tough, but Chizuru had grappled with stronger. All she needed was a couple paces, knocking her head forward as she tried to force Blade back in her stance. Once she had made enough space, the German suplexer would move to slip her hands away from her opponent’s neck and hand, diving forward and bringing them under the woman’s arms before falling back, attempting to throw her overhead with a release belly-to-belly suplex.

Beauty's name just seemed to haunt Blade like an ethereal, ghostly weight on her shoulders that wasn't going to be fully exorcised until she finally had another crack at that pompous windbag. First Misaki tossed it right in her face before their match, and now Chizu here does the same thing with Blade only barely managing not to fly off the handle this time. This was mostly thanks to Panther's Risako's heartfelt consulting back when Blade was in the infirmary, and because Chizuru just seemed too peppy, cheerful, and just...well...way too air-headed to mean anything truly malicious by it. Blade was actually relieved that her first opponent was someone like Chizuru, who was the polar opposite of her previous two opponents. She could use a match where she didn't outright loathe the other girl for once. Really helped her to concentrate.

And it looked like Blade was going to need every ounce of her mental faculties since Chizuru was doing a damn good job of keeping up with her movements when they were doing the dosey doe in the middle of the ring. Usually Blade had her opponents second guessing themselves or at least showing signs of self-doubt in terms of predicting what the Aerial Artist would do next. But Chizu quite literally took it all in stride and accepted the lock-up with about as much bullish strength as Blade imagined she would. She arched her back and stiffened her legs behind her as best she could, but damn if Chizu wasn't...

*really...freaking...strong... * Blade internally stewed as she visibly struggled to out-muscle the Suplex Savant, the Aerial Artist gritting her teeth with their foreheads in butting contact before Chizuru started making some major headway. Her fingers dug deeper into the lock-up as Blade found herself being ushered backward a total of three steps. Feeling Chizuru suddenly abandon the lock-up brought a perplexed look to Blade's face when she found herself tugged forward in what was actually a genuinely terrifying hug.

Split-second thinking brought about what Blade earnestly hoped to be an end to Chizuru's suplexing plans, Blade's left arm curling around Chizu's head and interlocking with her other hand to try and trap her in a front headlock. Blade than completing the guillotine choke counter by nimbly leaping up and sliding both of her legs around Chizu's waist, a steady squeeze than being applied to her chipper foe's waist and neck while Blade intentionally tried to leverage herself backward to really crank on the pressure.

"Sorry, Chizu...guess it turns out I'm a bit of a hugger too..."

Chizuru wasn’t going into this lockup with much preparation, but it didn’t look like she really needed to. She was managing to force her fellow Angel back, and that was all she was looking for. When she thought about it really, what did Blade have on her? Height. Experience. Arguably a more inspired hair stylist. Things to admire, but wouldn’t make or break this match.

Above all of that, though, was her agility. Blade was a nimble fighter with a mean bite. She who could play keep away with someone like the Suplex Artist the whole match if need be. So when she went for the suplex, she half expected that Blade would find a way around it. That would be fine though. If she just kept close, Chizuru would have still had a shot at this.

What she didn’t expect was that she’d counter her grapple with an even better grapple. Chizuru’s eyes shot wide for a moment as her gaze suddenly met the floor and her head was locked into position. The Okinawan’s strong legs forced a slight wheeze from her mouth. She put on hand on her adversary’s thighs and another to her neck, trying and failing to lessen the pressure. A brazen smile crawled its way onto her face.

“Ehehe...I knew it…”

And boy, what a hugger she was. Good torque, you could really feel the affection. Uehara family reunions must have ended with a trip to the chiropractor. Chizuru wasn’t looking to make that trip.

“Okay…”

Wrapping her arms around Blade’s waist, the German Suplex girl would clasp her hands together and push her palms into the small of her opponent’s back, biceps flaring and teeth clenching as she did her best to secure a bearhug in her awkward position. She wasn’t done yet, though. With Blade close against her, she’d buck her knees and, breathing through her nostrils not unlike a bull seeing red, charge towards the nearest turnbuckle.

The impact probably wouldn’t do Chizuru’s head any favors either, but it would have to be an improvement on what the rest of her body was going through.

Wrestling instincts were a fickle thing. They tended to be cultivated as pure muscle memory when presented with specific situations numerous times. For submission artists, it might be springing to action when you see an unguarded limb when you're opponent was nowhere near the ropes. For hardcore brawlers, it was spotting the perfect weapon in a readily supplied trash can for putting away the competition.

For Blade, being in the strengthened arms of someone whose malicious intent was one such particular situation. Making a career out of standing up to towering giants sorta gave her a phobia of being pitched around the ring like a lawndart. It was just one more thing she could thank Beauty Ichigaya for, but at the very least it helped Blade think up some kneejerk reactions if she was ever in such a predicament. One of them being to simply latch onto her foe like a rambunctious spider-monkey.

Chizuru's wheezing breathes and clenching hands grasping at whatever they could were all good signs...the cheeky comment maybe not so much. But Blade could deal with it if it meant putting a damper on Chizu's little comeback party with a hard L. Not that she had anything against her. Hell, in a weird way she was almost kinda sorta maybe warming up to Chizu...but Blade needed this win just as much as she did. And she made that point clear by bearing down on the headlock with as much muscled torque as she could, teeth gritting as she leveraged herself downward to really make it feel like a noose around Chizu's neck.

But Blade didn't count on Chizu having her own kneejerk reaction to all of this. The securely fastened bearhug making Blade curiously spy behind her by looking over her shoulder down at Chizu's arms. She questioned whether Chizu had the pure strength to make a bearhug in this awkward position for her, though all would be made clear in the fleeting seconds that Blade was stuck in motion before being rammed spine first into the corner turnbuckle.

"Oooph!!" Their own corner of the ring shook violently and suddenly Blade wasn't quite so deadset on keeping the guillotine chokehold locked in. Her legs unfastening from Chizu's waist with Blade's headlock going limp as well, the Aerial artist dropping to a seated and groaning slump on the bottom turnbuckle pad unless Chizu had the energy and wherewithal to say differently. Whether Chizuru was smart enough to think up such a hard hitting and effective counter in preparation for this match...or if she just made it up one the spot...was up for debate. But Blade would at least concede that Chizu was definitely the stronger hugger between them.

The keen observer would be able to spot a bit of desperation in Chizuru’s rush over to the turnbuckle. From a distance, it just looked like two women running at breakneck pace towards the most painful looking part of the ring. Every onlooker in the front row averting their gaze a bit as they knew what was coming next.

But if Blade had managed to sprout the ability to suddenly elongate her neck and look Chizuru in the face, she might have seen that hint of worry. This was a sudden move no matter how someone looked at it. Chizuru was never a calculated sort. Part of her was worried she’d just end up banging her head against the side and giving Blade an easy KO. Wasn’t the first time it had happened and could have easily been the second.

Not the way she wanted to re-enter the ring.

She was here to prove herself today. Had this been the Chizuru Nagahara of the past, back when the Wrestle Angels promotion was filled with applause and talent instead of silence and dust bunnies, there would be nothing but panic. She’d fumble, fall to the side, maybe even rock Blade with a couple punches hoping her situation would suddenly reverse. She liked to imagine she’d grown since then.

The Suplex Master’s fears were nothing more than her imagination running wild. At least, if Blade’s compressed groan was anything to go by. She breathed in a deep breath of air once she felt the guillotine choke come loose and the legs around her neck unwrap. This was better. This was much better. She had the aerialist, almost literally, on the ropes. But, again, Blade was a nimble woman. If Chizuru intended on keeping this momentum going, letting up was the exact opposite of what she should be doing right now.

The Okinawan tomboy went to slump down against the corner, but Chizuru’s hand went down along with her. One dipped low and went to slip between Blade’s legs as the Suplex Girl crouched down and pulled up. The other stayed on Blade’s shoulder, looking to keep her balanced as she attempted to hoist the Aerial Artist up, spin her about upside down, and slam her into the turnbuckles with a body slam.

Blade was starting to honestly wonder if her memory was starting to slip, which would have been a predictable outcome for anyone who gets pummeled and leaps off of tall structures for a living. Because she could have sworn that the Chizuru Nagahara she remembered, who while admittedly was a suplexing authority, was never quite this much of a nuisance to wrangle down. How many times had Blade spied one of Chizu's matches from a monitor backstage in W.A. where she would fold like origami under the slightest pressure?

She could have sworn she remembered seeing Chizuru fumble and flop about aimlessly from this exact same maneuver once before. Which was not much of a surprise considering that gaggle of misfits she joked around with instead of working on her in-ring performance. But here she was remaining calm, cool, collected and basically taking the submission like a champ. Of course Chizu picks THIS match of all times to finally find start wrestling like a professional...but Blade's bitter bemoaning of her rotten luck would stop on a dime and right alongside her guillotine choke that fell apart at the exact moment of stampeding impact.

Blade's feet tapped the canvas and her headlock lost all signs of tangible pressure as she slumped against the suplexing savant still holding her tightly. The Aerial Artist wincing and in a bit of stunned daze while massaging the back of her scruffy haired-head where it had snapped against the top turnbuckle. Being cornered like this was already enough to start setting off alarms in Blade's head at how bad of position this was for her, but what really got her nervous was that...well, Chizu was still holding onto her...which really couldn't have been a good sign.

Blade cussed with widened eyes when she was regrettably proven right from feeling Chizu's arm slide between her legs before everything suddenly went all topsy turvy. Blade's left arm clenched onto Chizu's thigh for whatever grip she could manage before being pitched back into the corner turnbuckle, this time falling over herself with the corner reverberating once again. A rallying cry from the audience getting behind Chizu as her opponent started to grasp onto the middle rope before lifting herself onto her knees, than slumping her groaning head and dangling arm over the same rope.

"Nng...okay...I'd like get out the corner now..."