Kyoko Akan vs. Masuyo Ai - Iron Sharpens Iron

She had to hit Kyoko with something hard, and quick.

The realization dawned on Masuyo more and more with each second that passed, as the limits on her body started to stifle her breathing and dull her movements. The fist that whiffed past her chin, cutting the air between, was the revelation she needed. Kyoko may have been getting tired just like her, but her punching power was still enough to throw even the hardest mixed martial artists for a loop. Either from the front or a shot in the back, the Belly Queen had to come down one way or another.

If she had any worries, the wide grin beaming across Masuyo’s face didn’t care to show it. Her mind was burning, both from the pain and the struggle to keep standing, but she kept moving all the same. She had Kyoko on the retreat for now, and had to keep it that way. She’d made an opening, now she had to work on it.

After her knee landed flush, the Demon reset her footing, watching the ex-contender stumble back away from her. Her legs moved without her, stepping forward to close the distance with her fists close. She threw a couple swift jabs to the Queen’s face, keeping her attention away from the cutting roundhouse kick aimed for the same spot her knee had found purchase only a moment ago.

Kyoko didn’t know what would come from this. She was on the defense but the Demon was trying to topple her here and know throwing punches towards her face as Kyoko had to quickly find the strength o put her guard up and stop them. It was easier said then done and she found her guard slipping. This was the point of exhaustion as they were moving past the hour and into uncharted Territory where whatever broke down first lost. And this was all going to end badly for me of them. The roundhouse kick that came was just barely noticed by Kyoko and she ended up going low basically dropping to her knees to avoid being knocked out by it.

Then with one huff she would launch herself forward to try and slam her elbow into Masuyo’s other leg to bring her down a peg as well. There was only one way to go about beating her, she needed to get something big off but if the Demon could fight on her feet that was too much of a coin toss. Take her off her feet and she might stand a chance, her hand would try and drill her kidney with a punch when she closed in hoping that might do the trick and stop her.

“Come on!”

Masuyo may have been getting a little frustrated. Energy reserves were low and she was banking on that roundhouse kick to finally take Kyoko down a peg, but the Belly Queen had some serious battle awareness. Part of her was curious to know how much of that was bred in the ring and how much was just raw instinct. Another, bigger part of her just wanted to get one good hit in, that one blow that would finally send her over the brink they were both teetering along.

And it seemed like Kyoko was thinking along the same lines. Before Masuyo could properly bring her foot down, she felt a sharp jab to her knee that nearly made her cry out from the shock that worked up and down her leg. She brought her hands behind her to cushion the fall slightly, but the veteran was already on her by the time she got her bearings. Even worse, she knew what Kyoko was going for. But it was too late to stop the fist.

A kidney blow. The second it found purchase, the Demon’s body locked up for an instant in time, slowing things down to a halt as her breath and sense of time escaped her. She’d experienced this once before in her amateur career, a bad shot to the head that nearly put her undefeated streak to an embarrassing end. Kyoko almost knocked her out, and it seemed like she could finish that job easily enough if the MMA girl didn’t do something now. She had to move something...something...anything...

...her legs. Masuyo brought them up and tried to clamp her solid thighs around Kyoko’s waist. If she was able to catch the Belly Queen, she’d twist to the left and bring them both onto their sides. It was a stopgap at best, but she could use the moment after that punch. Her legs may not have been as thick as Alicia’s, but they were more than capable of stuffing air and cracking ribs. It felt like hell on her own core and made her body burn. All the more incentive to find a way to put her down.

Improvise, you idiot. It's what you do.

She just barely saved herself from what could have put the match firmly in her opponents hands. And even better her attack connected like she wanted too first bringing her elbow in and nailing Masuyo’s leg to start forcing her to topple down and that opened her up for that kidney shot. Kyoko has taken more then enough to know that it’s a hit you never want to take at your best so you certainly weren’t going to be alright with it at your weakest. As expected Masuyo started to crumble and Kyoko has a plan of pulling her back into a submission hold like the Dragon sleeper to end this match. But the Demon has one last trump card to play, and her legs moved in and around Kyoko’s waist.

“Gnfgh! What!?” Kyoko gasped before she was yanked down, laying on her side looking at her foe once more wondering what she could do in the event that she was being squeezed to high hell and struggling to fight for her freedom. Kyoko wasn’t about to stop by the Demons legs were pretty tight and her core was exhausted. All she could do was try and shift and hammer at the legs hoping to net some result as they worked her sides more and more. ‘How much more is she willing to take?’

Breathing hurt. Always a bad sign when just a touch of fresh oxygen set her lungs on fire. 

Masuyo trained hard every day. Sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups. She’d run clean on out of ‘ups’ she could try and she was barely a year over twenty. She gave it one hundred and ten percent into making her body as battle-ready as humanly possible, but that was just it at the end of the day. She was still human and even she had her limits. As much as she longed and yearned to go on, the light just always faded too fast.

But she was willing to bet Kyoko had to be reaching hers too. She could feel it in the way her opponent struggled, the difference between the start of the match and now. Deeper breaths were being taken, longer and more exaggerated movements that only a trained eye could spot. They’d done a long dance that would easily go down as one of the toughest of her career, but every part of her was screaming the end out to her. This had to do it. She kept on pouring everything she had into the scissors in hope of forcing her opponent into submitting.

That was up until the Belly Queen started wailing on her legs. The Demon yelped and bit down on her tongue as the elbows kept coming down. Right on the tender spot too where one of her kicks landed. That got her to ease up straight away and gave Kyoko the space she wanted. Masuyo released the scissors and quickly rolled a few feet off to the side onto her stomach. Slowly, she pushed her way back up to two feet, eyeing Kyoko the whole way as she settled into her stance. One, slightly shaky foot forward and one behind, fists up and head forward.

One thing. She needed just one thing.

The fight was winding into its closing minutes with Kyoko fighting to try and free herself. Thankfully her hits stopped Masuyo from getting any further and trying to break out but Kyoko was going to make sure that she out her opponent down for good moving away from the Demon as Kyoko tended to her ribs. The hold was tight and the damage it had done was clear as day. As was the damage the match had done as the usually pale and strong looking Kyoko was covered in sweat bruises and welts. Turning towards Masuyo she tried to power through her injuries to end this match.

“You can’t seriously keep going...much longer.” she muttered looking at any part of the women that was weak and allowed for Kyoko to strike at. Though for the moment she just tried to close the gap and throw a right into her body once more. And then would follow it up with a left to the face

Could she keep going much longer? The fact that Masuyo honestly took a second to question herself on that notion didn’t bode well. She never came second to none in a contest of endurance. Her debut was the only time that came to memory, when Valley cut the wind from her jumped-up sails before she knew which way was up. She was having trouble seeing straight now in that same fashion, only it wasn’t from a lack of orientation or some high-flying pro-wrestling mumbo jumbo.

No, Kyoko was just fixing to knock her out flat. Same plan since minute one if she had to guess. Plain and simple. She could appreciate the honesty there, because she was going for the same thing.

Masuyo kept her body moving and her breath up, reading the Belly Queen’s footwork as she moved in. The body blow missed her ribcage by inches as she pulled back, folding her body in to avoid it. Unfortunately, that made her face an easier target. She brought an arm up and tilted her head to the side as the left punch hooked around and clapped her on the cheek. While the impact was lessened, it still stung like mad in her disheveled state. Masuyo couldn’t afford to lose herself in the final moments, however. Kyoko had earned too much of her respect to just drop dead now. The moment she stopped there wasn’t going to be any starting again. She had to get close now

Where the Belly Queen got close for her assault, Masuyo took a step closer the instant after the blow to her face, punching her right fist up at low angle to hit Kyoko in her center of mass as she dedicated her weight forward. Paying it forward once more, the Demon would capitalize with a swift uppercut with her left.

She had worked this far getting Masuyo to such a breaking point that she felt she could force her to collapse at any moment. But it had come to such a price that she had been left dizzy and unable to think straight. Even her usual status of goingbfor the abs didn’t seem to click to her, course even if she tried Masuyo was likely to be blocking that part off from any more hits while Kyoko staggered and attempted to start hitting her all over. Neither of her hits connected and Kyoko felt like falling over exerting that much power. The Demon did the rest when her next punch caught Kyoko square in her core.

“Guuhh!” Kyoko leaned in a bit. Her body stinging from the impact of the hit. Her head would stagger and turn in place while trying to avoid the worst of the impact. Though it was more due to her head bobbing in such a way rather then because she was attempting to dodge. But the bear hit did get her mind back into a fighting mood as she would go for a straight fight to rattle the women some more. Keeping her opponent on edge as they were both determined to fight to the last.

There was the opening.

It took no small amount of effort to make it. Kyoko was a tough woman. One match and Masuyo could tell she deserved every accolade under her belt was hard-earned, tested again and again. She’d only seen her kind once in a while on the other side of the octagon. At her current trajectory, Kyoko was easily going to outpace her. She was going to soar to the same heights that Masuyo had her sights set on from the moment she walked into this federation. But which of them would get there first? Who’d break through that shining ceiling?

Only one way to find out. The Belly Queen was durable, to an unreal degree, but it seemed like the world contender was finally at that limit. The cracks were peeling and that opening was getting wider and wider. The MMA maven’s moved fast, tangling up the last bundles of her energy into putting Kyoko down.

That was up until a punch clapped her on the cheek, throwing the Demon off her posture. Her legs faltered and felt like jello. The world hazed and tinted slightly, her consciousness waning on her as the shock rattled her skull. Her body was listing as she danced on the spot, the crowd rousing at the sudden turn of events.

No. Come on. Not now.

Breathe.

The Demon’s body moved without the rest of her. She stepped in and went to wrap her arms around the back of Kyoko’s neck, keeping her head low as she brought their skulls close in a clinch. Her body burned against her foe’s as she slumped forward. Breathing in, breathing out. When she tried to move, punch, kick, something, her body only twitched against the suddenly overwhelming weight of her limbs. She knew what this meant. It was the same feeling as back then, at the end of her debut. She was exhausted. Empty. Done. It was a good effort, but all she could do was lay down and…

...and...

Masuyo breathed deep, taking in every scrap of air her battered lungs could handle. Her head came up with a wild smile beamed across her face, steel eyes like shurikens cutting through the thin space between them. Baring her teeth, she reared her head back, and threw a rippling headbutt dead center into Kyoko’s head.

Kyoko got her knocking the women senseless as she was starting to falter. The Belly Queen knee the Demon was not going to go down easily but the fact was the way she faltered and struggled to simply stay upright made it all the more poignant that she was starting to win out. The falls she had won showed that she was beatable it stubborn but Kyoko was determined to wear out even that trait and she thought she had and smirked seeing her start to fall away. She should have remembered what she might try. Moving forward Kyoko saw her coming in too late to redirect herself. So all she could do was the most boneheaded decision...bring her head in forward to try and stop the momentum before it came fully on hers.

The crack on collision left her eyesight completely blocked out leaving Kyoko backing up without any control over herself before she finally fell all the way down and on the mat. The Demons last ditch effort seemingly putting her body out to dry. She could only hope she had a similar effect out of her.