Kyoko Akan vs. Masuyo Ai - Iron Sharpens Iron

God damn it, why did Kyoko have to be so stubborn?

Granted, Masuyo pegged her as much by the countless other times she’d locked the woman into a submission hold. The Belly Queen was never one to surrender easily, and that was something to admire, but by the Buddha was it infuriating. Even this far in the match, with all the energy they’d spent and the damage they’d dealt to one another, she was still refusing to submit. It was funny. Masuyo could see a lot of herself in the way the woman bucked and kicked while locked in the kimura, reminding her a bit of her rookie days.

The key difference her was that while Kyoko may have been experienced when it came to MMA, she was far from a stranger to a good fight. The veteran squirmed her free hand out from underneath the Demon, throwing a few, stiff punches straight into her side. Masuyo croaked and cringed, tightening the hold momentarily as her core yielded to Kyoko’s strikes. She was tempted to keep the advantage, but the more blows she took, the less sense it made. The kimura was losing its strength with each punch. All she was betting on was making Kyoko fold, and her opponent likely knew that.

There were better ways to go about this. No need to rush. Before Kyoko could wind back another strike, Masuyo pushed off to tuck and roll down her legs and create some distance from her adversary. Once she was a few feet away, the MMA maven would move up to one knee, gripping her core as she did. She had to be smarter than this. Had to be.

Kyoko was nothing without her ability to push through despite all parts of her body saying enough...well right now it was mostly her arms screaming that but her legs and body were pushing it. As she hit Masuyo where it really hurts the girl felt her grip give up, which motivated her to keep punching until the Demon relented saving her arm as Kyoko brought it close to her. She wanted to groan in pain as she felt it, her muscles in her arms were killing her and she wasn't sure ho well she could throw a punch like this. Glancing st the time she knew she didn't need to. She just had to hold out and keep on fighting and she'd be in the clear.

"should be thanking me..doesn't matter if you break my arm off..I'm not tapping again." Kyoko declared and she felt she could uphold it within the time frame. Still Kyoko didn't rush in either slowly approaching the Demon to both eat up the time and keep her on her toes.

05:12

Masuyo couldn’t help but steal a glance over at the timekeeper’s table as she recovered, just barley bringing herself onto two feet before she bent over and placed both her hands against her knees. Fresh droplets of sweat dripped from her nose and damp raven locks to the ground below. One heavy breath after another flowed from her labored lungs. Every single muscle in her body was crying out in pain, begging for relief, with even the slightest twitch sending aches. And there was still five minutes to go. One round in the octagon. And she still needed two points to win it. How she was going to manage, even the Demon didn’t know...

Kyoko’s words got an honest chuckle out of her, though. So there was a silver lining there. “Ha ha! I guessed that much! You’re really tough, Kyoko-san!” She pushed against her knees and brought herself upright, staring at the ceiling for a moment as she caught her breath. “Not a problem, though. No big deal.” She slowly brought her head back down, a lot steadier than before. Her silver eyes locked to Kyoko’s, throwing the widest smirk she could muster her way. “I’ll just have to knock you out.”

She brought her fists up, finding her arms a bit heavier than before, and slowly made her way over to Kyoko. She circled the woman for a moment, trying to outpace her if only by an inch, looking to create even the slightest opening. Then, with a sudden slap of her left foot against the canvas, she’d throw her right leg out, shooting a harsh roundhouse kick towards the back of Kyoko’s tender thigh.

Knock her out in 5 minutes? Masuyo hadn't been paying attention f she thought Kyoko was ever going to let that happen with the time she had left. There was too much riding on this to be beaten in such a fashion after already tapping out twice to the girl. Instead she focused on making sure she didn't have a chance to get a good shot off at her while keeping her defense up. Masuyo moved in after her attempting to catch her thigh with a kick.

The Belly Queen hissed as she felt the kick catch her thigh even as she braced for it. Her hand came to intercept it but didn't quite make it as the kick hit anyway, though her leg did come around it as it connected. Still she couldn't even lie to herself and say she planned that as she tried to push the leg off and take a step forward to send a cost straight into Masuyo's chest.

Yeah, didn’t really expect that shot to take Kyoko down. Any single strike wasn’t going to cut it, not until Masuyo was able to build up some momentum for a proper, big delivery. There was a bit of hesitance as she moved into the Belly Queen’s range, noticing her guard was already up, dwelling on the consequence of having her kick intercepted at this stage in the game. The MMA maven had more confidence in her skills nevertheless, and while her fears were unfounded, it didn’t bring her any closer to that knockout.

She barely had a moment to breathe before Kyoko came back on the rebound. As she brought her foot back behind her, the ex-contender's knuckles found their way to her sternum, causing Masuyo to cough up a bit of spittle onto her forearm. She slouched slightly, nearly on the verge of breaking down, but couldn’t bring herself to drop. Not this close to the end.

With a roar of determination, she made a quick lunge forward from her hunched position, moving to close the distance and place an a firm hand on Kyoko’s shoulder for balance. From there, she’d wail on the Queen’s stomach with a quick series of uppercuts, forcing her back towards the ropes with each blow she managed.

MMA may have been her domain but Kyoko knew how to punch things and how to make sure they hurt. The pain she knew Masuyo was still feeling in that stomach of hers told her all she needed to know and keeping on the attack. He punches connecting and slamming into Masuyo's chest and sending her spiraling to handle the shocking pain her fist had behind it. That gave her cause to believe she had an opening. Though Masuyo instead tried to turn up and rush her despite feeling like she wanted to collapse, she slammed into her looking for some kind of recourse. And instead starting firing punches to her belly with everything she had.

"Oouugfgh! Uuffggh! Ooohjk!" Kyoko gasped backing up with each punch to her body. She didn't know where this outburst came from or what motivated the attack. Of course it did seem to be working as Kyoko found herself up agaisnt the ropes soon enough scrambling to keep up some kind of defense despite herself. The punches chipped away at her abs which while not nearly as damaged as Masuyo's were tired just like the rest of her and cause the Demon caught he rkff guard Kyoko paid for that with each little extra ummph of air she lost.

Punches weren’t just Kyoko’s domain. She may have had the raw instinct, a kind of talent you’d see on the street rather than the ring, but Masuyo wasn’t a slouch in that department either. If the fifty minutes they’d spent together wasn’t enough to convince her opponent, she hoped the cutting strikes to her gut were changing her opinion. From the way the woman jackknifed with each strike, the Demon could feel herself closing the gap. It wasn’t easy. They were both at their limits, sweating and aching with every effort. But she was determined to sprint this final stretch.

One good shot. That was all she needed.

With one last uppercut, the MMA maven pressed Kyoko against the ropes. Forcing the Belly Queen to reel forward, Masuyo would bring her arm up and snake it around the back of Kyoko’s neck, moving to lock in a guillotine hold. If she was able to lock that in, the Demon would compliment the hold with one knee strike after another, aiming for Kyoko’s favorite department to hurry along her trip to dreamland. “Go to sleep.” Another knee strike. “Go to sleep.”

Kyoko was coughing and trying to defend herself from punches, not really expecting the blows to her belly to pack a wallop. Part of her doubted Masuyo's targeting her there was coincidence but at the moment there was little she could do about until she was against the ropes before the Demon grabbed her head and tried to force her down into. Guillotine choke hold to force her out cold.

"Nguuugghh...Uuggh!" Kyoko coughed as she suddenly felt a knee to her belly. Her hand went backwards as she grabbed the ropes behind her to try and defend herself as much as we could. Her other hand came up to try and defend her belly from anymore knees.

Masuyo caught a few winces from the crowd as her knee strikes came home. This was a tactic you saw more often in the octagon, not a wrestling ring. Something quick and brutal, with every shot meant to put your opponent on the ground. It was no doubt a sight this kind of crowd wasn’t used to, but this was what it was going to take to put Kyoko down.

The MMA maven drew on every ounce of experience she had, the muscles in her thighs surging, sweat flying from her legs as her knee buried itself in the Belly Queen’s gut. She thought she had her...until she didn’t. Kyoko’s hands kept her back for a spell, her strikes falling just short and slamming into her palm instead. A huff of frustration left the Demon’s lips. Kyoko was every bit as strong as her reputation suggested. In an odd way, Masuyo was ecstatic, driven by the thrill of facing someone so formidable. All the while the clock kept winding down, forcing her to push her limits even further.

So she’d do just that. This was far from the last trick in her book.

With a strong yank, Masuyo would fall backward and attempt to force Kyoko off the ropes. As she fell back, she’d leap up and wrap her iron legs tight around the Queen’s midsection. The instant they crashed to the canvas, she’d tighten the lock, attempting to bring the former contender closer to the edge with a guillotine choke and body scissors combination.

Kyoko's iron will shined through situations like this. Masuyo refused to let go despite Kyoko having ahold of the ropes and instead tried to yank Kyoko off of them sonshe wouldn't have to. But even that just made Kyoko try and hold on tighter; as if doing so was the only thing she had left she could do. Mostly because it was. She needed the space and to hold out as best she could under the pressure of the hold, and Kyoko knew that taking the worst Masuyo had to offer for a few seconds was going to be worth.

Practically breathless on her feet Kyoko was red in the face while the ref attempted to get Masuyo to acknowledge the ropebreak by counting down the seconds she had to break off of Kyoko. Which was basically the lifeline Kyoko had to keep herself alive in this match and let the clock wind down more. Though driven as she was surviving wasn't going to b an option. Kyoko sought to win and was just as determined to get another fall as Masuyo was.