Kyoko Akan vs. Masuyo Ai - Iron Sharpens Iron

Masuyo kept struggling harder and harder as she felt the hold around her waist come loose. Whatever follow-up Kyoko had in mind, it wouldn’t mean anything if she spent all her energy trying to keep the Demon restrained. She was strong. Masuyo could tell that much by how she was keeping her held back despite the slight height and weight advantage, but she wasn’t strong enough to keep her back forever. As long as she kept shifting from side to side, refusing to give her opponent an inch to work with, she might have been able to pull out of this by the skin of her teeth.

The Belly Queen shut down those plans in an instant. Wrapped up in her ceaseless struggle, Masuyo left herself defenseless to the rough headbutt Kyoko threw her way. Right into the back of the head, too. Probably the worst spot second to the jaw to get hit. Soft, vulnerable, and practically impossible to defend. It was made all the worse by the fact that she hadn’t even seen it coming. She was made docile in a heartbeat, practically slumped against Kyoko for a couple moments as she was brought over to the turnbuckles, just trying to regain her senses.

A Headbutt never felt pleasant for her at all but the fact that it stopped Masuyo in her tracks at least for now gave her more then enough time to take advantage of things. With the Demon leaning against her for the moment Kyoko pushed her towards the corner as she pressed against it Kyoko would take a second before going for the rather orthodox move.

Rolling backwards while her grip on Masuyo persisted Kyoko would try to roll her up but she would roll all the way back to her feet before getting back to her feet. Hoping to use the momentum from the move Kyoko would try and lift her up and attempt to bring her down with a German suplex to the floor.

Kyoko clearly had the head of a brawler. That was probably the most lasting impression Masuyo was going to have from that headbutt once the pain finally subsided and she could stand confidently back on two feet.

All at once, she felt herself falling backwards along with Kyoko, as if their feet had just slipped out from under them, the grip around her waist pulling her back along with the Belly Queen. Masuyo had no idea what she was attempting, even after they rolled over each other like a two-human bowling ball. The next moment, however, when she heard Kyoko plant her feet and felt her body leaving the ground, she realized exactly what was happening. All to late.

Kyoko seized their momentum and on the final motion hoisted the Demon up and over for a powerful German suplex. The ring quaked for a moment beneath them as Kyoko slammed her hard body into the canvas, the crowd roaring to life for an instant at the sight of such an impressive move. Masuyo was feeling a bit less celebratory, needless to say. Her body was still on the floor for a moment, aching and groaning as she leaned to the side and pressed a hand against her back, trying to make sense of the world again now that it had stopped rolling around her.

Kyoko could count on one hand how many times she did this move. It wasn't exactly the hardest in her rep but in the heat of the moment was one she rarely thought of. Thankfully her desire to pull out all the stops now made her remember it. It was one that was sure to disorient someone and deal some damage as Kyoko let go of her and rolled to her front. Holding her hurting leg for a second she stood up and moved to grab the Demon again.

"Submissions aren't my forte but this one is a favorite of mine." She was on a roll and she had a chance to shut her down right now. Looking to pull her a bit so that she was on her knees Kyoko moved behind her and tried to snake her back into a dragon sleeper pulled on her head and trying to stretch her out some more and exposing her belly to another well placed punch. "For obvious reasons!"

There was also the head. Her head was getting some of the worst from that suplex. It kept on thumping and rattling, making it hard to focus on any one thing. And, of course, Kyoko had to go with one of the hardest suplexes she’d seen. Masuyo hadn't been hit too often by the German in her otherwise short wrestling career. Definitely wasn’t something you saw in the octagon, though. Her inexperience was glaring, but she’d been dealt harder moves before. She could get away with this, in time.

Time that Kyoko wasn’t willing to afford her. The next thing she knew, she was sat up and her head was being wrenched up. When her neck was jerked back, she instinctively rushed an arm to her neck to avoid whatever chokehold she knew was coming, but it was just a tad too slow for the former world champion contender. A dragon sleeper could have been a finisher in its own right, but to add Kyoko’s expert knowledge of belly-destructing fists on top of that? There was no way she could last much longer. Masuyo held on for all it was worth, a hand reaching out for a moment to try and catch one of the fists before giving up from her lack of sight, thinking it better spent trying to peel the arm away.

“D...damn it...”

Her hands kept tugging, trying to wrench out of Kyoko’s inexorable grip, her progress regressing with each punch. She had to hold on. She had to hold on somehow.

The dragon sleeper submission hold was one Kyoko loved to do, it was effective and left her opponent vulnerable, Masuyo seemed to realize that, trying to stop her but lacking the necessary speed at the moment to do so, likely still a bit dazed from the suplex. It was just as Kyoko wanted her to be and make sure that the girl was unable to properly counter the move. From there the Belly Queen was in familiar territory punching away at Masuyo's resistance and working those abs into a fine paste as she worked her over.

"Your tough, but ive been doing this for years. Your gonna need your best just to survive." Kyoko said admittedly getting a bit cocky with her string of success as momentum was in her favor for now. Trying to hold the sleeper despite Masuyo's efforts she hoped to take the Demon down a again before she found the necessary strength to pry her away though she noticed the effort was diminishing abit she wouldnt be safe until the demon had fully stopped.

She may not have been adept at submissions, and Masuyo could feel that. She didn’t have quite the right amount of torque and her positioning was a little off. All the same, Kyoko had a deadly finisher in the making here. Even with the Demon’s remarkable endurance, there was only so much she could take from the Belly Queen. Breathing became more and more difficult as every punch jerked her body, only to be restrained harshly by the dragon sleeper. Kyoko's hold wouldn't budge an inch, especially not with the torment she was inflicting on her midsection. Her body writhed like a snake with a knife through its head. Pain pulsed through her entire body. Her mind struggled to rationalize any of this in the overwhelming sensation of it all. And that wasn’t even the worst of it.

The light above her started to dim. Her punches were already a step above many she’d met and knew fairly well from her MMA career. Combined with the dragon sleeper, the air was escaping her lungs at an extraordinary rate. She sputtered about like a fish out of water. The match would continue regardless even if she passed out, but actually continuing would only be all the more difficult. Her body going through a complete reset and slowing her heartbeat would only dull her movements Add weight to her step, take away the edge in her strike. There was still a chance to win this. A faint chance. A tiny, tiny glimmer growing darker every second she stayed locked in this hold.

It all just required a step in seemingly the wrong direction.

One more punch to her toned core was all the convincing she needed. With only a second of hesitation, Masuyo brought her hand up and tapped Kyoko on her shoulder.

“Submission! Point, Akan!”

Kyoko had the Demon trapped for now and she wasnt about to let go, not unless she felt she was truly about to break out but as time went by that seemed more and more unlikely. It wasnt her best work but it let her rest a bit while doing alot of damage to Masuyo and it was clearly wearing down on her. Finally she felt Masuyo tap out giving Kyoko the second fall in this match as the clock continued tick on and on. Giving Kyoko a bigger advantage as she let her rival go and let her rest as she started to back up. Proud of her efforts and content with the results so far.

"Your smarter then me thats for sure." She said as she backed away, knowing that she would have been a lot more stubborn in submission holds even if tapping out was the smarter route to take. Of course now that she was 2-0 her mind was only focused on widening that gap even further. And once she had her opponent back up on her feet she d go right back on her.

Two to nothing. This wasn’t how she saw things going.

After Kyoko released her, Masuyo could only curl up face down on the ground, clutching her aching stomach tightly and trying not to hack up her own lungs. She could hear a few shouts from the audience directed towards her, trying to encourage her to rise again. Her body couldn’t care less about them, though. It was overwhelmed with shock, wrought with pain from the core, stabbing her with every breath she took. She spat onto the canvas, seeing a tinge of red join the drops of sweat pooling underneath her.

She slammed her fist into the canvas. The referee knelt down beside her, making sure she was clear to keep going. It didn’t speak volumes for her current condition that she actually had to ponder that. She wasn’t sure exactly how much time was left, but they had to be a good ways in by now. It wasn’t enough to be fast anymore. She had to be certain. Decisive with her attacks. She didn’t have energy to waste if she still wanted to win.

She couldn’t lose face now. It wasn’t over. Not yet. The Demon clenched her hands together and pushed her way back up on her knuckles, looking up at Kyoo as she did so.

“You're...good.” She brought herself up to one knee, letting out a rough cough as tried to stand back up. “Really...good.” She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, keeping her hands level at her sides, adopting her proper stance. The official cleared them to continue the match. “But I'll be even better, Kyoko-san.”

Kyoko had Masuyo on the ropes for now as there elxerince was speaking volumes right now. The Demon was no slouch but it took more then skill and determination to win a match, especially this kind of match which would pretty much test everything the two had. And despite her 2-0 advantage Kyoko wasn't about to slow down, that advantage was just a buffer, not a cause for a break. Seeing the Demon reeling though made her feel a bit more confident she could widen that gap further though she was impressed thgst she started to get up seemingly just as confident in herself as when the match started.

"Your gonna have to be if you want to win this match. Though don't be surprised when I say..I don't intend to let that happen." Kyoko brought her hands up ready to go at it again. She had her target in mind and was gonna go right back to it. "So lets see what comes next." moving in once more Kyoko tried to throw a jab at her aching belly.