Kyoko Akan vs. Masuyo Ai - Iron Sharpens Iron

Ten minutes. Just ten minutes.

As much as she tried to convince herself of just how small that number was, Masuyo wasn’t finding that task any easier. Simply attempting to stand was difficult enough, let alone taking the fight to easily the strongest brawler she’d ever gone up against. It certainly didn’t help that she was still on the losing end of things. There was a long mile to walk until the end of this, and it seemed like her opponent understood that just as well.

She couldn’t help but chuckle at Kyoko’s question. It was a funny image, coming this far only to pass out just minutes shy of the bell. God, she could just picture the look on Gin’s face. “I should...be asking you that, Kyoko-san.” She grinned and pushed down on her knee, propping herself shakily back on to two feet. With her hands still on her knees, she looked over at the Belly Queen with a wide smirk, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of her face and falling to the canvas. “I got that leg as good as your arm. Make sure to ice them after I win.” She brought her hands up to her chest, holding her left slightly further out from her in an open palm as she balled the other into a fist. She put her left leg forward, taking on the most comfortable MMA stance she could manage. Upturning one corner of her lip, Masuyo would bring her close hand up and wipe the underside of her nose. Her eyes steeled on the formidable woman across from her, a hawk narrowing in on its prey, awaiting the clashing of claws and steel as the referee went to raise her hand, resuming the match.

"My arm and leg have been in binds....before but seeing how that gut looks I can't imagine you can do much if anything where your not feeling the effects of that...Especially with how strong it looked when we started...." Kyoko added confident in herself and her chances of winning this match still. If it came down to it she wouldn't tap out again no matter how bad it hurt. Plus so long as she played it smart Masuyo wouldn't be able to lock anything in anyway. Which gave her more time to adjust as she saw fit. with that in mind she would steady herself for the next go moving in at the first chance she could.

Moving in like she planned to attack Kyoko would instead back up at the last second, wanting Masuyo to remain on her guard but ultimately she knew she could wait and force th Demon to come to her since she did have a point about her limbs not being in the best shape and any slip up like say going for a punch that hurt to swing or putting too much pressure on her leg could cost her if she was careless.

Masuyo dreaded the sight of the referee’s hand raising into the air, allowing the match to continue. She was putting on the strongest face she had, but Masuyo had to acknowledge once again how formidable Kyoko was. She didn’t hide her injuries, didn’t try to dance around the Demon’s offense and chip away at her just because she was on the ropes. If Masuyo wanted to overcome this, she had to be just as aggressive. She just needed to focus on the one advantage she had over Kyoko right now: she still had full mobility of her limbs. Difficult as it was to keep the torture stewing in her gut in line, it was manageable. So long as she paced her breathing, didn’t overexert herself, it would be fine.. Play things smart, aim for her opponent’s weaknesses...

And don’t get punched. That was the key worry at the front of her mind as Kyoko neared her again, reeling her fists back as if going for a strike. Masuyo leaned back, ready to avoid a fist that never actually came. The two danced around each other in behaviours more suited to the octagon than a wrestling ring. Masuyo liked to believe she had more experience in this regard, but Kyoko was a brawler, through and through. Just one punch may have been enough at this point to put the MMA maven on the ground. She eyed the Belly Queen up and down, taking a second to wipe some sweat from her forehead. Her eyes watched her form, the way her legs moved. Her body bent back from another feint, noticing a stagger in the Queen’s movement.

A hole in her defence. The corner of Masuyo’s mouth twitched up in a slight grin.

“You say that...but you’re playing it real safe.” She snickered. “Know what that tells me?” With a sudden lunge forward, Masuyo would throw a couple jabs to Kyoko’s face before shooting a shin kick to the woman’s injured leg, hoping to ruin her posture. Once that succeeded, she’d grab Kyoko’s arms. “You’re all talk!” She said, throwing her head forward, looking to knock the Queen senseless with a snap headbutt.

Kyoko didn't want to let this moment go to waste. Any one mistake made here would spell doom for either one of them, if Kyoko took control she could stall until the bell rang and Masuyo knew that, if the Demon overcame the odds she could tie things up as quickly as possible and then try and take the lead. Hard with just 10 minutes but not impossible. Still that uphill battle gave Kyoko confidence, Masuyo was sure to slip up, though her hesitance to strike just made the Demon smell blood. Blood she quickly rushed to try and take that made this do or die time. The next few seconds would spell the beginning of the end as Masuyo charged sending s sudden kick to her right shin. The one she knew was hurting like hell at the moment as Kyoko went to bring her arm down and check the shots her hand stopping the leg as the force vibrated through her hand.

"Haaggh!" Kyoko yelped. Even this late in the fight Masuyo's kick hurt like hell to block or maybe that was just showing is bad her arm was hurting from her submission holds either way it was a testament to Masuyo's ability to target her limbs as she was now trying to use that advantage to help turn the tides in her favor. The second move the headbut proved more difficult to deal with, mainly in that the moment she used to block the kick left her a bit too stuck in her feet and so not long afterwards the headbut connected as Kyoko tried to pull back the impact leaving what felt like a bruise on her head as Kyoko staggered back desiring the urge to throw a punch out that the Demon could catch and pull and bend in some wgbos It way that she had proven to be capable of.

Masuyo landed her headbutt…

...and immediately regretted it.

For all Kyoko liked to talk up her abs, her head was a pretty decent second if that gimmick ever started to lose its luster. The instant their skulls clacked, a horrible torrent pounded through the Demon’s skull from front to back, tickling the back of her neck with a dizzying sensation as she took an unsteady step backward. This was about the...third headbutt she’d taken - though she was starting to lose count afforded all this brain damage - and it didn’t seem like the Belly Queen had any intention of slowing down.

They may have been far in the match, but Kyoko, as Masuyo felt she had to be restated again and again, was a tough opponent. She didn’t get tired like everyone else she faced would have. Didn’t try to duck her blows or find a way around. She took it all and came back stronger. Trying to match her wasn’t going to get Masuyo anywhere, especially now, in the final minutes of their bout. She felt drained. Slow. Heavy. If her opponent felt the same way, she didn’t let it show. Anyone could see there was no margin for error between the two anymore. No more shots in the dark, yet no more time to just hang around either. Things had to be decided, and soon.

And it seemed as though Kyoko was willing to give her that out. Kyoko may not have been able to shake off the Demon’s headbutt, but it didn’t stop her from attempting to return the favor. The shot roared towards Masuyo’s face with enough power to knock her flat...if it connected. Mere inches from contact, the MMA maven brushed to the side.  She reached up to grab the contender’s arm as she did so, one grabbing her forearm, the other going a bit higher to the strap on Kyoko’s bra, close to her collar. Turning herself around and placing her back against Kyoko’s chest as she did so, all before bending forward and throwing her opponent over her shoulder with a Seoi Nage, dumping Kyoko hard on her back.

Kyoko tried to fight back and keep herself in control as Masuyo attempted to keep herself stunned with those headbutts. To her credit they were deadly effective, leaving her with a spinning head and a lot of pain and dizziness to overcome along with her already aching body and fatigue. She wasnt sure how many more hits like that she could take but she didnt stop moving regardless. Her headbutt attempt was foiled by the Demon moving aside and grabbing at her forearm and then her back as she tried to get behind her and lift her up.

Kyoko's instincts came to her as her leg came up trying to hook around Masuyo and keep herself from being tossed up. Her hand slowly came up as she tried to break the Demon's grip on her and break free in some form or fashion. Her mind scrambling to come up with some kind of defense that she herself couldnt really do at the moment, she could only try and keep herself from being tossed around.

Now here was something she wasn’t expecting.

It wasn’t uncommon for Masuyo’s moves to be countered. She’d had a long and competitive MMA career with all sorts of opponents before AFW, people who were more technically minded than even herself, filling the gap with strategy where their strength didn’t match. She’d been counterpunched. Had people worm their way out of their submission holds before. Damn sure hand them stop one of her throws that otherwise would have left them flat on their backs.

She just never expected that kind of block from Kyoko. The MMA maven had shared the ring long enough with this woman to get a sense of how she moved, even more so how she fought. Masuyo figured her for one of the brawler types, the ones that think with their fists and tank whatever they can’t think around. The Seoi Nage was a move that required quite a bit of practice. It wasn’t easily done, nor simply brushed off.

But no, Kyoko had more technical ability than she realized. She stopped the judo throw cold by hooking her leg around Masuyo’s coiling it down past her thigh and around her shin. The two were instead left clutching against one another and bound at the hip, their sweaty bodies just one bad step away from toppling over together.

“Come on…” Masuyo muttered. She gripped Kyoko’s arm harder, bringing the hand at her bra strap to the back of her neck, attempting to force her down to the mat first with whatever strength she could muster. Kyoko wasn’t budging at the moment, but Masuyo was sure she could outlast her. “Just...fall down.” She said, looking back into the Belly Queen’s eyes with a hard glare.

Kyoko's instincts were that of someone who had been in one too many fist fights, because of that when she did react to grappling so well it sometimes surprised even her. Still she couldn't just let that be the end of the matter as she was now extremely close to the girl trying to toss her over and struggling to get the better of the otherwise evenly matched opponent while Kyoko pushed into her. Masuyo wisely changed up her tactics a bit attempting to simply push into her as Kyoko grabbed around her and did the same. Hoping that her body would give out first on account of the pain that had to be riddling her stomach.

"Nngghh." Kyoko muttered attempting to try and force her back and keep her down when the suddenly she felt her other leg slip up. Failing to suppers her as well with Masuyo pushing against her she was suddenly pushed backwards and sent to the floor coughing as she hit the mat and her arms reaching up to push agaisnt The Demon.

It wasn’t the prettiest way to fall, that much was obvious, but it worked. In some fashion.

Masuyo hadn’t ended up in as great a position as she would have liked. As the two pushed and pulled against one other, rocking left and right like a pair of unsteady Jenga towers, it was inevitable that one of them would crash. Kyoko was plenty strong, well-grounded, able to push against Masuyo’s more defined frame despite all the energy she was attempting to hurl back at the Belly Queen. But the gods were merciful this day. Kyoko’s footing had been the one to falter first, landing her flat on her back with the Demon at her side, quickly moving to mount on top her waist. It wasn’t clean, and Kyoko was still ready for her, but at least Masuyo had the upper-hand, however temporarily.

She wrapped her arms around the back of Kyoko’s head, moving to bring her close for a choke, but evidently, her opponent had her own opinions on that. The ex-contender pushed back, denying Masuyo the distance she needed to seal the deal, determined to keep the MMA maven at a distance.

But that was fine. She could work with that. “Nice try!” Masuyo proclaimed as she brought one hand up to grab her opponent’s right arm by the wrist. Rotating herself sideways, making herself vertical on top of Kyoko, Masuyo would slap the woman’s hand to the ground before slipping her free arm underneath Kyoko’s to wrap around and grab her own wrist. With that, she’d pull up, pressuring the woman’s arm and shoulder with a painful Kimura lock while still laying flatly across the Queen’s stomach.

Still seemed it to try and get herself free from the spot as Kyoko looked to fight her way to freedom as Masuyo looked to surpress it she found the Demon doing her damndest to keep her arm in place as she tried to bend it back and lock it into a painful kimura! Her focus on her arm contuoning from previous attempts as Kyoko let out a soft shriek but shook her head at any offer of submission she had a lead to push not let it tie up and she began to sturrbonrly seek her escape.

Throwing her other hand into Masuyo's side and trying to push herself to freedom by using her legs to seek a slightly better position and even move to get the necessary space before sinking a few more jabs into her side. She had worked that core well enough to know it had to be hurting and the pain would be a good distraction for Masuyo.