Alaina Sanders vs. Kozue Kaburagi - Long Time, No See

Land the dropkick? Check,

Knock Alaina down? Check.

Strike a pose? Big check.

Everything worked out how Kozue wanted, more or less, with her opponent taking the hit and getting laid out once again. The smart thing to do, here, would’ve been to just get Alaina back in the ring and go for there, work over her winded opponent, but the New Jersey Ninja couldn't help feeling herself a bit - after all, it wasn’t every day you got to lay out one of the best in the business. People would be remembering this match. So…

Kozue rolled back into the ring, sliding under the bottom rope, and popped to her feet. She waited a moment, seeing that Alaina was in the proper position, then she went running away from the edge of the ring at full speed. She hit the ropes, turned about, then went into a flip, tumbling along the ring hand over foot, building up more speed, more momentum, more force.

When she came back to the edge, she cashed it all in at once, using it to backflip over the top rope and come down on Alaina with the legendary Sasuke Special.

Kozue was a ninja, Kozue was a wrestler, but, maybe more than those other two things, Kozue was a gambler. Every time she took to the air and let gravity decide her fate, she would gamble that her opponent hadn’t moved or put their legs up. She could execute her moves to perfection, but none of that would save her if the target wasn’t where it was supposed to be when she came down.

So it was like Poker, in a way. Reading your opponent, feeling them out, making the best decision based on your conclusions. With Alaina, for instance, she felt she had a good idea of what her foe was capable of. Thought she had the book on the Amazon memorized.

She was wrong. She knew exactly how wrong when she came down and hit the canvas, splatting on the floor.

It was never going to be a fun landing, but without Alaina’s body to act as a cushion, Kozue’s crash was a thousand times worse. She landed flat on her chest and went into a spastic fit after the impact, kicking her legs, flopping away, letting mumbled curses fly and hating life in general.

”Yup.” Kozue groaned as Alaina came her way, nodding at the assessment. ”Thanks for the review.”

She wasn’t wrong, as much as Kozue hated to admit it. This was the sort of thing that Benikage had warned her about - getting too carried away with her new skills, showing off, flying too close to the sun. She still had some work to do when it came to figuring out when to stop pushing her luck, it seemed. An evolving process.

For now, though, she was paying the price, as the Amazon lifted her up and sent her flying. Kozue didn’t just hit the announce table, she went clear over it, scattering the two commentators as she came down between them. They cleared the area as she wallowed on the floor beside their chairs, still reeling from her crash landing. ”Don’t suppose I could get a timeout, huh?”

Kozue was about to make a try for getting back into the ring, but she honestly wasn’t sure it would pan out. It would’ve been slow going at best, her body still feeling the effects of that hellacious crash, and being tossed over the announce table hadn’t done wonders for her equilibrium. She wasn’t even 100% sure which way the ring was or what count she was up to, nevermind whether she could get to it in whatever time she had left.

Luckily, Alaina helped her up and got her back into the ring. Unluckily, she slammed her back into the ring post before she did.

Hitting that harsh, unforgiving metal was like a spear in her spine. She cried out at the impact, her body going into a spastic fit, leaving her lifeless as she was hurled back into the ring. Her face scrunched up from the pain, it was all she could to roll over to her chest and groan, too hurt to even push her way back up.

If Kozue had to sum up her current situation in a few words...

”Oh, fuck...fuck…”

...yeah, those would do a good job of it.

It was a testament to the Amazon’s power that she could leave an opponent so wrecked after such a short amount of time. It didn’t matter that Kozue had landed more hits, it didn’t matter that she’d dictated the pace of things for most of the match. Yeah, she could get in ten hits for every one that Alaina landed, but if Alaina’s one hit was worth twenty of hers, the math wasn’t in her favor, and that was what it was starting to feel like.

Her opponent knew it, too. She wasn’t giving her opponent any quarter, wasn’t sparing her any slack. She was on Kozue before she could get up, tucking her head, lifting her up for what she, at first, thought would be an inverted suplex.

No suck luck. Instead, Kozue was drilled into the mat with a jackhammer, slamming her back - the same one that had been rammed against a steel post moments ago - into the ground. Her back arched as a shrill cry escaped her lips, before she eased back down, shaking from the pain underneath her foe.

”1…!”

It took Kozue a moment to even realize she’d been pinned, so stunned that the ref took her by surprise. She got it together, though, and made an attempt to get free.

”2…!”

An attempt that failed. Alaina wasn’t only heavy, but she had the move on secure, pushing Kozue’s limits. Dig deep, deep breath, and…

Kozue threw her arms up and twisted hard, getting her shoulder up at the exact less second, with the referee’s hands only inches away from the mat. Close, far too close for her liking.