Daisuke Takeuchi vs. Hagiwara, Sakura - Part II

It was true that Daisuke was a stubborn wrestler. However, Hagiwara's background made him all the more stubborn when it came to facing her. Still in disbelief that he lost the first match against her, in the back of his mind he would always tell himself either it was beginners luck or purely because of the oiled conditions. Daisuke gave her no chance in the previous match and had given her the same treatment in this one.

However, just like the previous match, Hagiwara was proving him wrong as well as all her doubters. She wasn't the same as when she first joined Berserk, her skills had massively improved as Daisuke was finding out just now. Trapped in the Boston Crab which was later transitioned into the single legged crab, Daisuke's lower back was under immense pain.

Sakura would scoot backwards to give herself as much room to pull his leg back, really increasing the effectiveness of the hold. Her focus was so intense that in the battle, her leg pulled out from under her and she slipped, banging her knee against the mat while awkwardly staying on top of Daisuke. The trip made a sudden jerk to his leg, which caused a rush of pain to him too.

"ARRRGHHHH! N-NO! T-this can't be possible dammit! H-how are you this...ARGHHH" he struggled, shaking his head. Daisuke was panting heavily and sweating, the prince was so close. He would have his arm out-stretched because he was so close, he would bear the pain and crawl forward a few inches until his hand grasped the bottom rope prompting the referee to call for a break.

With his ankle pinned up against her body, she gripped his knee tightly and cranked the single leg hold back. She knew more than most just how devastating the hold could be. She made no attempt to drag him back to the center of the ring, opting to instead conserve her energy and simply do as much damage to the wrestling prince as she could muster while slowing his crawl to the ropes. Each hard yank of his leg was harder than the last as she worked down his resistance and made his tendons and muscles scream out for release.

"Because you underestimated me because I was an idol! Because I worked hard! I fought... I lost... Then I picked myself back up again until I was good enough to look at myself in the mirror and be proud! I'm going to show you just how wrong you are about who you think I am!" Sakura threw herself as far back as she could, bringing with her Daisuke's leg to tear at his knee and thigh, pushing the human limits of his body for a few excruciating seconds until finally…

"Break!"

Sakura snapped back to the moment, unhooking her arm almost immediately when the referee shouted to her. She sat back on top of Daisuke for a moment, letting out a tiny huff, composing herself again. Rocking herself forward she popped up off her opponent, stepping away from him as she flicked some of her hair back over his shoulder, striding back towards the center of the ring. "Lets go, we aren't done yet."

With the amount of times Hagiwara had been put in this submission hold it was no surprise that she would have learned not only how to counter it effectively but also how to apply it in its most effective form. This was one of the most painful single legged crab's Daisuke had ever experienced but the wrestling prince's pride did not allow him to submit to Sakura just yet.

Hagiwara continued to yank his leg back harder and harder, Daisuke could feel his muscles almost starting to cramp up from all the stretching. Suddenly, Sakura would break her silence and respond to Daisuke's ramblings to enlighten him about just who she was and how better she had gotten at wrestling.

"Sah! Give me a break Hagiwara-chan! That stuff is all ridiculous, no idol could just switch careers and think she can be the best! I-I won't believe it?! ARRGHHHHH AHHHH" he let out a loud scream when Sakura pushed him to his limit, really pulling his leg back while bridging back herself.

Should she had trapped him in the hold for a few more moments, he would have submitted but luckily the prince had managed to get close enough to the ropes to grab onto them and earn himself a rope break. With the break called, Sakura suddenly snapped back into reality and her intensity was broken. She would step away before turning back to the middle of the ring but was eager to continue her match with the prince.

Daisuke however, hugged the ropes and held on tight. He would look back to Sakura who waited for him in the middle of the ring. "Damn you Hagiwara-chan!" he simply said before pulling himself back up onto his feet but still struggling due to the pain in his leg. The prince would raise his arms up defensively, this time not eager to attack Hagiwara head on as he maintained his distance while breathing heavily.

“The only thing ridiculous here in this ring…” Sakura thrust an arm out, her finger pointing accusingly across the ring towards Daisuke as he struggled to his feet against the ropes. “Is just how stubborn you are! Anyone can achieve greatness if they try. They just need to work hard and find the right people who will be there to support them. I’m lucky, I’ve had so many wonderful people in my life who have always been there for me, to help me, to guide me, to push me to be the best I can be.”

She cracked a wide smile, sweet, genuine as she thought back over how low she had to fall before she had learned the hard way back up. All the people that had been there for her, she felt so blessed. Stepping forward she swiped her hand aside, standing tall in the face of Daisuke, someone who had proven himself to be little more than a bully with the sheer toxicity his thinking promoted. She refused to lose to someone like him and wanted to show everyone watching that she wouldn’t be held back by those who doubted her abilities anymore.

She didn’t wait for her opponent to come to her, bursting forward in a dash to run him down as he cowered behind his raised arms. Cutting across the ring she was on him in a moment, planting a foot, pivoting at the hip to fire off a stiff kick towards his side, hoping to open up his guard. She would quickly step away to the side, rearing back with her arm before lunging back towards him from a new angle, trying to level him with a giant lariat as a quick follow-up.

After pulling himself back up to his feet with the aid of the ropes, Daisuke would lean back towards them to stay on his feet and take a moment to breathe. His back was aching because the Boston Crab had really done a number on him but he simply could not withstand Sakura lecturing him. He glared at her, teeth gritted and his fists clenched while he shook them at the direction of Sakura.

"No! Nonono! None....None of that matters. There is just no way...." he refused to believe what she had to say despite some of those words actually getting through him but he stubbornly would not believe them despite them being true. Daisuke was now more cautious, he took a defensive approach with his guard up. Sakura had not time for his games to take it slow and would rush at him to smack his side with a stiff kick.

A pain stricken moan escaped his lips, breaking his guard which allowed the former Sweet Diva Idol to change her angle and lunge at him again, striking him with her extending arm to take him down once more as she hit him hard with a lariat strike. "Arrgghhhh" he yelled as fell onto his back.

Sakura’s whole body twisted into her giant lariat, shouting into the arena as she unleashed her full force behind the blow. Daisuke was slammed in the line of fire, snapping back to the mat as the wrestling idol took an extra step past to come to a stop and steady herself. She looked down at him, shaking out her arm after delivering such a heavy blow it had managed to make her own arm sore. With a small huff, she reached down, grabbing the wrestling prince under one arm and behind the neck, pulling him away from the ropes as she strained to drag him up to his feet again.

“You’d better start believing it, because I’m going to defeat you two more times before this is through!” With a harsh yank she would try and shove Daisuke’s head under one of her arms, flexing her bicep around his head to secure him tightly. She would drape one of his arms across her shoulders and reach out to grab the lip of his briefs to clench them tightly. With a grunt and a hard lean, she attempted to hoist her opponent up off the mat, looking as if she were about to suplex him, but would only get about half away before dropping back to the mat, trying to drill him in the skull with a brainbuster!

Not only was Daisuke losing the physical battle but he was also beginning to lose the mental battle. Hagiwara was the only woman who had managed to break his ego to the point that Daisuke was doubting himself. He was so sure that there was no way Hagiwara could ever beat him purely because of her background and her past that when the seemingly impossible was happening he had no answer to it.

Struggling to cope up with the offence, Daisuke would roll over before trying to get up on all fours but his head was caught by the arm of Sakura who would pull him up to his feet and then drag him to the middle of the ring. Daisuke would struggle, looking to push Sakura off and even strike her waists and lower back with a couple of wild strikes but ultimately was unable to stop her from pulling his arm over her neck and grabbing the waistband of his briefs to pull him up vertically.

She kept him up, letting the blood rush down to his head before dropping him down head first via a surprising brainbuster slam which made the crowd erupt in cheers. "Guuuuuughhh" Daisuke cried as his head spiked against the mat before he slumped down on his back, his body glistening in sweat under the ring lights with his chest heaving up and down.

Sakura unraveled herself from Daisuke on the floor, leaning her body away to separate the two of them with a roll. When she came to rest on her back again, the idol wrestler tucked her legs in quickly, rolling herself up onto her shoulders. Reaching back she planted her palms then thrust her legs out to spring to her feet with an impressive kip-up that had the fans ignited again. She spared a smile and a wave to the crowd before moving on with a dash, not looking to waste her advantage.

Charging to the corner she held out her hands to grab the top rope, clutching them tightly as she jumped up off the mat. Vaulting high she threw herself up into a handstand, quickly repositioning her handholds with expert balance before dropping down onto the turnbuckles with the small creaking of metal compression changes and padded fabric. Rising to her feet she glanced back to check on the fallen Prince, content to see him writhing still. A fist thrown to the sky she let out a shout, one returned to her by the crowd as anticipation built to a frenzy.

Sakura crouched low, then snapped into the air in a blink of an eye, moonsaulting herself across the distance between the two of them. Her arms spread to the side, hair whipping wildly in the wind, she soared with the grace of a tranquil angel until the apex of her jump. As gravity took hold she whipped her arms to the side, sending her into an abrupt twirl, spiraling down to the mat to crash across Daisuke with her devastating yet sweetly named Triple Scoop Sundae finishing move.

If she struck him cleanly Sakura would bounce from the impact, taking in a deep breath of air she had been avoiding keeping as to not wind herself. She rolled onto her back, gathering both of Daisuke's legs in an arm to hook them high while throwing up her free hand with a V for victory gesture. This round was going to be hers!

"One!"

The Lariat strike left Daisuke's world to be rocked. Sweat flicked off his chest and he leaped up in the air and fell down onto his back. The Boston Crab had left a lot of damage on his back already and the fall to it would really aggravate the pain. The strike left him winded out, giving Sakura enough time to perform an impressive kip-up. The acrobatic maneuver send the crowd in a frenzy of applause while Daisuke was still down on his back reeling from the pain.

Hagiwara had shown to the crowd and to his opponent that her past was not a hinderance to her present and her future and that despite her background of a idol, she was ready to break the barriers and gun to the best pro wrestler in the world. The wrestling prince could not accept that fact, that such a person could ever stand a chance against a person who started off as a pro wrestler. His arrogance had lead to this moment and Sakura would impressively get up to the turnbuckle by doing some more acrobatic moves. Once there, she steadied herself and looked back once before vaulting off the top turnbuckle, leaping up high in the air and spinning around before dropping down onto Daisuke's chest to execute her signature Triple Scoop Sundae splash!

"Guuuuuuughhhh!" Daisuke cried out in pain. The wind was knocked out of him as his legs kicked up and fell back down. The prince was done and Hagiwara knew that, she crawled back over and went for the pin, the crowd cheering in delight at the sight of Hagiwara out-wrestling her rival.

"TWO....THREE!"

"Ugh...Im...possible" Daisuke let out a small whimper as he glared up the arena lights.

At the third count, Sakura let out another cheer which was echoed by her fans. With a light shove, she let Daisuke's legs go, allowing them to flop back to the mat limply. Sitting herself up, Sakura leaned forward into a crouch, pivoting on the ball of her boots to look back down at her defeated adversary. Reaching out she put a hand lightly to his chest and bent forward, blocking out the overhead lighting with her head as she smiled down at him.

"I warned you to take me seriously. Take some time before the next one and put in some real training before we step into this ring again. You're going to need to get way better if you want to beat me without tricks or gimmicks." The idol wrestler lifted her hand, giving Daisuke a playful tap on the end of his nose with a finger. With a casual flick of her hair over one shoulder she stood herself up, taking a moment to leisurely stretch her arms. "The girls over in Berserk would eat you alive… maybe you should get a trainer or something. Anyway, good luck!"

With one more big smile Sakura turned away to meet up with the referee to have her arm raised. She took some time to pose for pictures in the ring for her fans before eventually slipping out of the ring and making her way out, giving high fives and selfies along the way to a roaring crowd of starry eyed fans.